Michelia Fairy White (Magnolia)

Fairy White is one of the evergreen michelia hybrids bred to give port wine magnolia perfume on a plant that behaves like a hedge. It holds glossy dark foliage right down to the ground instead of going bare at the base the way older michelias do, and that density makes it useful. White, scented flowers open in succession through spring, each short lived, the display running for weeks. It is planted as a flowering evergreen screen, an informal hedge, or a specimen in a lawn or large pot.

Soil and spacing for Fairy White

It grows through temperate and subtropical gardens and takes part shade to full sun, flowering more heavily with sun and holding better leaf colour with some afternoon protection in hot inland districts. Water is moderate and steady rather than heavy. The soil is where it is fussy: free draining, on the acidic side, improved with compost and kept mulched. In alkaline ground or heavy clay that stays wet, the leaves go pale between the veins, the plant stops moving and no amount of feeding brings it back, and that is the one failure this plant reliably has. Raise the bed, work compost and gypsum through clay, or grow it in a pot with a good mix instead. Shelter it from harsh drying wind, which burns the leaf edges and spoils the density you bought it for. For a screen or hedge, plant about 80 cm to 1 m apart depending on how quickly you want the line to close. Plants in containers dry at the edges first, so a wide pot holds a screen better than a tall narrow one.

Fairy White, murraya and lemon myrtle

The hedge decision in this batch usually comes down to climate. Murraya clips into a harder, flatter, more formal face and perfumes a whole garden after summer rain, but it resents frost and looks miserable through a cold inland winter. Fairy White handles cooler southern gardens, flowers in spring and gives a softer, more informal line. Lemon myrtle is the third option and the aromatic one, though it wants warmth and carries a rust risk. Pick Fairy White for Melbourne, Adelaide and the tablelands; pick murraya for Brisbane and coastal New South Wales. All three take a clip, but Fairy White is the one that keeps a clean skirt of foliage at the bottom of a pot.

Pruning straight after flowering

Prune as soon as the spring flowers finish, before the plant makes the growth that carries next season's buds. A light shaping cut is usually all it needs, and shearing it repeatedly into a tight box costs you the flowers. To keep the base dense, tip prune the lower growth rather than only working the top. Feed in early spring with a controlled release fertiliser for acid loving plants, the same sort used on camellias and gardenias, then top up mulch. Container plants benefit from a second, lighter feed after flowering. Browse the rest of the privacy screening range.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 45L, at $269.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to choosing a magnolia.