Homegrown Habitat, June 2024: Sweetbay Magnolia
You might want to include sweetbay magnolia in a mixed shrub border or as an understory transition from lawn to woods. Photo by J E Theriot from houston, usa – magnoliaUploaded by uleli, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22906986
The white flowers of this southeastern species are a pleasure to behold, and its sap and red seeds attract numerous birds. Homegrown Habitat columnist Sarah Middeleer explains how to make it part of your garden. You can write to Sarah at homegrown@ctaudubon.org.
June 24, 2024—Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) is a lovely addition to the garden, with its two-to-three-inch, fragrant, white blooms occurring in May and June, followed by red seeds that many birds eat.
This small tree is indigenous to the Southeast, but wild populations extend as far north as Massachusetts and appear in Connecticut in all but three counties. It will need protection in zone 5.
Its form is typically upright and spreading, with a straight, smooth, gray trunk. In the northern part of its range it typically grows smaller than in the south: 15 feet to 20 feet high as a single-stem tree, or shorter as a multistemmed shrub. In the south it can reach much greater heights. The leaves are shiny green on top and silver underneath, lending the tree a shimmering appearance in the breeze. While it is evergreen in more southern locations, sweetbay will be semi-evergreen or deciduous in the north. Its fall color is said to be yellow-brown.
The attractive red seeds, which form in cone-like fruits called follicles, feed many birds and small mammals, while sweetbay sap is a favorite of woodpeckers and sapsuckers. The aromatic twigs and foliage tend to deter deer. This tree also serves as a larval host plant for 15 species of moths and butterflies, including the spicebush and Eastern tiger swallowtails and the sweetbay silk moth. The magnolia beetle and bees pollinate the flowers.
Commonly found growing with sweetbay in moist, acidic soils are red maple, sourgum (or tupelo), sweetgum, tulip tree, American holly, and flowering dogwood. Understory companions include inkberry, coast leucothoe, summersweet clethra, and Virginia sweetspire. Ferns, mosses, and sedges are all suitable herbaceous companions. All of these plants share an affinity to moist or wet soils. Sweetbay magnolia can even tolerate occasional flooding, but not chronic inundation.
The red seeds form in cone-like fruits called follicles, and feed many birds and small mammals. Photo by © Derek Ramsey / derekramsey.com, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1761970
Sweetbay magnolia can be used in many garden locations in full sun to part shade. To enjoy the flowers’ delightful fragrance and intermittent bloom all season, locate the tree near patios or walkways. However, avoid planting it near eaves, where snow and ice buildup may break its branches.
Sweetbay makes a good rain garden plant. It might also be included in a mixed shrub border or as an understory transition from lawn to woods, along with its natural companion plants (see above). It can also serve as an attractive specimen plant; just be sure to give it a wide bed to provide a “soft landing” to caterpillars that may drop off the branches as part of their life cycle. Again, in the wide bed plant sweetbay’s natural companions, and try to resist removing leaves from it in the fall.
American Indians used sweetbay to make a tea for treating chills, colds, and other ailments. Early American doctors used it as a quinine substitute and to treat gout, rheumatism, and respiratory problems. Sweetbay leaves have also been used to season food.
Do you grow sweetbay magnolia? Drop us a line about your experiences with it at homegrown@ctaudubon.org. In the meantime, enjoy the summer birds!
Resources
Heather McCargo and Anna Fialkoff, Native Trees for Northeast Landscapes,
Wild Seed Project, 2021
https://perec.science.gmu.edu/native-plants/sb-magnolia/
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/magnolia-virginiana/
https://www.gardenia.net/plant/magnolia-virginiana-sweet-bay-magnolia
https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e110
https://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Magnolia%20virginiana.png
https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/
https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/sweetbay-magnolia/
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=144692
