Sweetbay Magnolia
image by Matt Whitaker
Scientific Description: The Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) is indigenous to the eastern half of North America, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas. It is a stately tree and would be a beautiful addition to most suitable gardens as a specimen plant.
The sweetbay magnolia has shiny dark to light green leaves with silver undersides that appear frosted. The 2"-3" creamy white flowers have a light lemon scent and are abundant in late spring and early summer. Bright red seeded fruit ripens in late summer, attracting many birds. Unlike Southern Magnolia, the sweetbay only tends to be evergreen in coastal areas. In Chattanooga, they often keep some leaves but lose most. This does vary quite a bit.
Habitat Value: This tree grows best in moist, acid soil with sun to partial shade. It grows 10'-20' high, with a spread of 10’ to 20’ also. This tree grows in Hardiness Zones 5 – 9. The sweetbay magnolia is different than most magnolias in that it does well in wet, even swampy, soils. It can tolerate normal moisture levels; it requires acid soils.
This tree can exhibit chlorosis or yellowing of the leaves, which may occur in high pH soils.
It is very elegantly shaped and is a good choice for a specimen or patio tree.
The flowers are pollinated by beetles, and open and close in a 2-day flowering cycle, alternating between a female and male pollination phase. These separate phases prevent the flower from self-pollinating. However, separate flowers on the same plant may cross-pollinate.
The tree benefits many types of wildlife by providing cover and nesting sites for them. It is a larval host for the sweetbay silkmoth. The sweetbay magnolia provides benefits to many animal species, including turkeys, mice, squirrels and other bird species.
Landscape Value: By Matt Whitaker of WMWA Landscape Architecture
Sweetbay Magnolia is another excellent small native tree for your yard. Like so many of our native evergreen plants, sweetbay’s natural range is the costal plain. Most nurseries prune young trees to be multi-trunk to give a fuller form, since single trunk trees can be open and leggy when young. I almost always prefer a single trunk specimen because of the exceptional sculptural quality they take on as they mature.
Two of the most beautiful sculptural trees I have seen were sweetbays, one on the dry, windswept west brow of Lookout Mountain and another on the north side of a plain brick police building in Charlottesville. I walked by and admired the sweetbay for years in Charlottesville until the city cut it down and replaced it with an Arborvitae. Finally, the sweet-scented flowers that give sweetbay its name are blooming now, and Reflection Riding has plenty of single trunk specimens for sale. I have two in my yard and added a third in my neighbor’s.
