Magnolia grandiflora ‘Gallisoniensis’ – Standards (Southern Bay)

A large-leaved evergreen tree with glossy, deep green foliage with fuzzy ginger undersides. Grown as a stout-stemmed standard with a loosely pyramidal crown, these could be just the specimen tree you were after. You can thank the Comte de Galissonniere who introduced it to Versailles from the Southern United States in the 18th Century.  What an absolute chap he was.

‘Grandiflora’ is very apt: the blooms are huge and carved delicately from royal icing: pure soft white at first and as they age they creme-caramel into a pale sugary brown as each petal fades. Gorgeous at all stages. Enormous to the point of ridiculous, the flowers are produced late in the year, so there’s none of that nail-biting worry about a late frost zapping all the promising young buds that comes with some of the Asian magnolias.

They can take quite a bit of chilly wind but are ideally suited to a sunny spot that’s reasonably sheltered, and will be happy in any fertile and free-draining soil. These ones are not bothered one bit by very low temperatures, but don’t plant them directly into freezing ground.