Sweet Bay Magnolia

  Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. One native small tree, sweet bay magnolia, Magnolia virginiana, that would do well in my new bog garden also happily grows in regular good garden soil. I have several of these easy to find trees planted near our north facing porch where we sit in the summertime, and the flowers produce a perfume that is full and noticeable at dusk. This is a tardily deciduous, relatively slender and open magnolia that reaches twenty or twenty five feet. The leaves are a pale white on their underside and they flutter nicely when there’s a breeze. Sweetbays make great patio trees; the typically have multiple stems they produce very little leaf litter, and have no pests to speak of, that with their clean, fresh fragrance should close the deal.