Magnolia Elizabeth

Elizabeth flowers yellow, which almost nothing else deciduous does. It is a cross between the American cucumber tree and the Chinese yulan magnolia, raised at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and it took an upright pyramidal frame from one parent and large tulip shaped flowers from the other. The blooms open on bare wood in spring, ahead of the leaves, in a soft primrose yellow that fades towards cream as the weather warms. That rarity is worth planting for on its own, and the narrow pyramid keeps it usable as a specimen rather than a spreading shrub.

The yellow is climate dependent

This is the thing to understand before buying. Primrose yellow holds deepest and longest through the highlands, the tablelands and cooler southern gardens. In a warm spring the flowers open much closer to cream and the display runs shorter. Nothing has gone wrong when that happens; it is how the cultivar behaves in warmth. If the colour is the reason you want the tree, be honest about the district first. The yellow also reads far better against a dark hedge or an evergreen background than it does against open sky.

A root zone that bakes

Magnolia roots are fleshy and sit close to the surface. Elizabeth planted in thin soil over clay, in open lawn with no mulch, or in a hot western aspect scorches around the leaf margins by midsummer, sheds leaves early and sets fewer buds for the following spring. The tree looks fine in its first season and then declines quietly over two or three years, which is why the cause usually goes unnoticed. Mulch generously out past the canopy and renew it annually, keep the mower and the line trimmer away from the base, do not underplant with anything that needs regular cultivation, and water deeply in dry spells rather than lightly and often. The ground wants to be open and humus rich with a slightly acid reaction, and worked out sideways from the trunk rather than down. Morning sun and shelter from hot westerlies. A late frost will brown open flowers, though the tree itself takes the cold without trouble.

Holding the pyramid

The shape is the second reason to buy this tree, and it is easy to lose. Stake a young plant for a season or two so the leader stays vertical, and take out any competing leader early while the cut is still small. Deciduous magnolias do not shoot readily from old wood, so correcting the frame later is not really an option. Prune straight after flowering if at all, and give it a feed as winter ends and another when the flowers are over.

Elizabeth against its parent and the pink types

Yulan is one of its parents, which makes the comparison a fair one. Yulan gives clean white goblets with a light lemon scent on a broad rounded tree and needs the width to sit properly, while Elizabeth is narrower and upright. Take Yulan where there is room and you want the traditional white, Elizabeth where the space is vertical or where yellow does something nothing else in the garden is doing. Against Cleopatra and the pink and purple types, Elizabeth reads much quieter and sits more comfortably beside warm brick and sandstone. It runs through to mature tree grades.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 300mm up to 400mm, priced from $149.00 to $249.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to choosing a magnolia.