About Yellow Magnolia Butterflies

Habit

• “Butterflies” magnolia has a dense, upright, pyramidal form with a single trunk, although it can be grown as a multistemmed shrub, too. It reaches about 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide, making it an appropriate choice for smaller gardens. Its flowers bloom on bare branches before the dark green, oblong leaves appear. The leaves stay green until dropping in fall, with little fall color.

Flowers

• The flowers of “Butterflies” magnolia grow upright on the tree’s branches like tulip blossoms, suggesting the magnolia’s common name, tulip tree. They appear in late winter to early spring and cover the tree for a week to 10 days. The blooms produce a slight lemon scent and reach 3 to 5 inches across. Although “Butterflies” is known for its fade-resistant yellow blooms, a period of high heat may cause the petals to pale. It often takes magnolias six to eight years before blooming well, but “Butterflies” produces flowers as early as 3 years old.

Fruit

• Magnolia flowers don’t produce nectar, so they’re not pollinated by bees. They produce plenty of pollen, though, and typically are pollinated by beetles. Fruit occurs rarely, unless beetles are present during the flowering period. The fruit looks like a cone covered with small red-orange fruits that enclose the seeds. Migrating birds consider the seed a favorite food.

Culture

• Plant “Butterflies” magnolia in well-drained soil amended with rich compost or manure. It thrives in regularly moist, neutral or acidic soil in full sun to part shade. Choose a site that will protect the tree from cold winds. Because of their unusual, nonbranching root system, magnolias don’t transplant well after they attain 4 inches in trunk diameter, so plant them where they will stay.