What Types of Magnolia Are Evergreen?

Types

• Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) is an evergreen magnolia tree with multiple cultivars that are also evergreen. Bracken's Brown Beauty, Little Gem and Edith Bogue are specific cultivars of the southern magnolia and all keep their leaves through the winter. The sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) and a subspecies known as swamp magnolia, var. australis, are only evergreen in the Deep South. Henry Hicks is a cultivar of sweetbay magnolia designed to keep its leaves even in colder climates.

Size and Geography

• Southern magnolia grows to 80 feet, precluding its use in small landscapes, but some of its cultivars are much smaller. Edith Bogue grows to 60 feet, Bracken's Brown Beauty to 30 and Little Gem to just 20 feet high. Sweetbay magnolia grows taller in the South, where it is evergreen, than in the northern sections of its range. In the South, it attains heights of 60 feet. Henry Hicks only grows to 25 feet. Southern magnolia is cold hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 7, but cultivars such as Edith Bogue can handle zone 6 winters. While sweetbay magnolia is cold hardy to USDA zone 5, it is reliably evergreen only in the warmest parts of its range--USDA zones 9 and 10, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

The Evergreen Foliage

• Southern magnolia's leaves develop to lengths of 10 inches. They are dark green on top with paler green to brownish-gray undersides. The leaves are elliptical, smooth and have a leathery texture. The Bracken's Brown Beauty cultivar has leaves 7 inches long, with a brownish underside. Edoth Bogue's foliage is as long as the parent species, while Little Gem has 5-inch long leaves. Sweetbay magnolia leaves are dark green on top but underneath appear frosty white; the leaves are 5 inches long.

More Features

• Southern magnolia has white flowers as wide as 12 inches that bloom in spring and then continue off and on over the course of the summer. The flowers that form on its cultivars are usually smaller in size, but no less ornamental. Sweetbay magnolia's cream-white blossoms are smaller--to 3 inches--but have an aromatic lemon scent. The fruits of magnolias develop inside pods that split apart when ripe to reveal the colorful seeds.