Photo: EvaK, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Ashe's Magnolia

Magnolia ashei

Also called Ashe magnolia, dwarf bigleaf magnolia, Magnolia macrophylla subsp. ashei.

Fragrant white flowers up to a foot across and leaves up to 2 feet long, on a small, rare magnolia from the Florida panhandle.

RareShowy flowersTolerates shadeWildlife value

Type: Small tree
Mature height: 10–30 ft
USDA zones: 5–9
Growth rate: Fast
Sun: Full, Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average
Grows wild in: Rich moist slopes and the forest understory
Native range: Florida See what is native in your state

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Ashe's magnolia is a small tree, often with several leaning trunks, and its leaves are green above and chalky white beneath. It is found wild only in the Florida panhandle, and Flora of North America calls it the rarest magnolia north of Mexico. Florida lists it as endangered, and NatureServe ranks it vulnerable. Some botanists treat it as a subspecies of bigleaf magnolia, a much larger tree of the Piedmont. Set it beside a shaded patio or path, where the huge leaves and the flowers can be seen at eye level.

Size, growth and what to expect

Ashe's magnolia grows fast, and our growth estimator models a fast tree at nearly three feet a year. It makes a tree of 10 to 30 feet with a crown 8 to 10 feet wide. It flowers 3 to 4 years from seed, and trees as small as a foot tall have flowered.

The flowers open from April into June, cup-shaped and fragrant, 6 to 12 inches across. They are white with a purple blotch at the base of the three inner petals. A reddish cone about 3 inches long follows and shows bright red seeds from early August. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds and spread them.

Its wild range runs from the Ochlockonee River west to Santa Rosa County. It grows under a closed canopy of hardwoods, on ravine slopes, bluffs and creek floodplains. About 75 sites are known, about half of them on protected land.

How to grow Ashe's Magnolia

Ashe's magnolia does best in part shade, in a rich, moist, acid soil that drains well. Full sun works only where you can water it through a drought. Shelter matters, because strong wind shreds the big leaves and breaks the brittle branches. Plant it 10 feet from a wall, where the building breaks the wind, and set trees 10 feet apart. Keep it at least 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Magnolia roots are thick and fleshy and heal slowly in cold ground, so plant at the end of winter or as growth starts in spring. Dig a hole wider than the root ball and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Clean the red coat off the seed, and never let it dry. Sow it outdoors in fall, half an inch deep, under hardware cloth against mice. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for at least 60 days first.

Water weekly through the first two summers and in long dry spells after that. Keep a wide ring of mulch over the roots. Deer and rabbits browse young magnolias, so guard the stem with wire for the first few years. Prune as little as possible, and only to take out dead or broken wood.

Ashe's magnolia carries both male and female parts in each flower, and bees and beetles set seed on a lone tree. Magnolia scale, the yellow poplar weevil and sooty mold are the problems NC State Extension lists. The big leaves turn yellowish and drop in fall, and there are a lot of them to rake.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

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