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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Magnolias of A Different Hue

Posted in What's Beautiful Now on May 8 2013, by Ann Rafalko

Saw this rare yellow magnolia in bloom last weekend at the NY Botanical Garden
”Saw this rare yellow magnolia in bloom last weekend at the NY Botanical Garden” @OliverSacks

Recently the eminent neurologist, author, and friend of the Garden Dr. Oliver Sacks tweeted a picture of himself with one of NYBG‘s yellow magnolias. “Saw this rare yellow magnolia in bloom last weekend at the NY Botanical Garden,” Dr. Sacks said. This resulted in a series of questions about yellow magnolias, most of which I could not answer. So I turned to someone who could, the Garden’s Manager of Plant Records, Jon Peter.

One of the biggest questions was as to whether or not the magnolia pictured, Magnolia ‘Butterflies’, is in fact yellow. “Yes it is really yellow, although a pale yellow,” Jon Peter assured me. This is one of the problems with digital plant pictures, everyone’s screen is slightly different, so hues can appear different to different people. But you can trust me, Dr. Sacks, and Jon Peter—this beautiful tree is truly yellow. It has a creamy, buttery color, with just a touch of chartreuse shot through. It is especially spectacular when set against more traditional blossoming tree colors like pink and white.

Another yellow magnolia on our grounds can be seen near the Perennial Garden. It is one of the “original” yellow hybrids and its name is Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’. The hybrid parents are cucumber tree, M. acuminata and Yulan magnolia, M. denudate. It was first selected at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as BBG #391 in 1977 and named ‘Elizabeth’ in 1978 in honor of either Elizabeth van Brunt, a patron of Brooklyn’s garden or for Elizabeth Scholz, Director of the garden there. There is conflicting information about the name derivation. ‘Elizabeth’ has been used in hybridization efforts to develop ‘yellower’ cultivars too. It is not native to New York, or in fact anywhere as it is a cultivated hybrid.

Now, let’s talk about the yellow magnolia’s rarity. Yellow magnolias aren’t rare per se. They are rare in the wild, but are becoming increasingly popular in the nursery trade because of cultivars like ‘Elizabeth,’ ‘Butterflies’ and many more. That said, they may be a little difficult for the home magnolia enthusiast to find at the shop around the corner. There’s no guarantee your local megamart or independent nursery center will stock them, but they’re not impossible to find. If you would like a yellow magnolia for your yard, you can try ordering them online or see if your local nursery can order one for you. And the available yellow cultivars are getting better all the time, so expect to see their availability increase as more people ask for them.