I guess it wouldn't make sense for a person with some 60 magnolias in over 40 different cultivars not to refer to at least one in a post about good deciduous trees. Choosing one is difficult at the very least, but made less so by virtue of the fact that it needs to be a tree that's been with me for a great many years and has some maturity. A lot of my magnolias are newer cultivars and the jury needs another ten years of growth and bloom before they can be truly evaluated.
When all is said and done, I would have to pick the cultivar 'Elizabeth' for this post....
Elizabeth is a soft yellow that never lets me down... it blooms heavily and the blooms have never been touched by frost due to its later bloom period. I often see it listed as zone 6, but mine has seen temperatures to at least -25 degrees fahrenheit with no damage whatsoever.
I'd like to share a little history on this fine tree. It originated as a hybrid seed planted by Evamaria Sperber at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1957. The first flowers showed up in 1972 (grafted plants bloom younger) and after five years of evaluation, the tree was named after Elizabeth van Brunt, a director of the gardens.
The color has been described as 'primrose yellow' which fits well with my experience with primula. The foliage is a light tone of green and occasionally I've given a treatment to acidify the soil a bit or an acidic foliar spray such as Miracid, since we have neutral soil conditions... the foliage has gotten a bit chlorotic a few times through the years but improved in short order with treatment.
The most important thing to realize about this wonderfully healthy and hardy magnolia is that it has Magnolia acuminata in it's parentage. If you want hardiness into zone 4, this is the way to go! .... and it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have to deal with only trees that bloom yellow, as there are many other lovely colors with acuminata in the parentage. Look at the magnolias offered by Roy Klehm at Song Sparrow Nursery as well as a few other nurseries in the states... if the name of my friend Dennis Ledvina is listed as hybridizer, you are on the right track. He is actively involved in creating hardy hybrids with extended bloom periods, often a month or more. Dennis work is having amazing results!
And one other thing... Elizabeth is lovely when accompanied by a contrasting colored magnolia that blooms at the same time as Elizabeth, as is the case with my Daybreak pictured here.
Now.... I've been adding a couple 'lovely faces' to my recent posts, as in the case of the tree peony pictured here...
... and the candy stripe Phlox subulata pictured here...
For my second deciduous tree of choice today, I have picked the Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii', the european River's Purple beech....
I have a number of European beeches and really enjoy them all... they are so different from one another and can fullfill many different roles in the gardens. Riversii is one of the best known beeches in England having been developed and introduced in 1860 by the nursery of Thomas Rivers. Within 20 years it had been planted freely in Europe and America. The species is a forest tree native to central and southern Europe and is lovely in its own right... I have one growing next to my gazebo.
My Riversii is because of its very nature, one of the 'signature' trees of my gardens. I have to constantly keep in mind that this tree will eventually reach 40 feet in width with a height of up to 60'. This is one tree that will not go when things get crowded, whereas many of its neighbors will be deemed 'dispensable' to protect the rights and majesty of Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii'.
Have a great weekend! Larry
My Riversii is because of its very nature, one of the 'signature' trees of my gardens. I have to constantly keep in mind that this tree will eventually reach 40 feet in width with a height of up to 60'. This is one tree that will not go when things get crowded, whereas many of its neighbors will be deemed 'dispensable' to protect the rights and majesty of Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii'.
Have a great weekend! Larry
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