The best white-flowered tree that blooms before the leaves, the white Chinese 

 magnolia — EM. Yulan. Fragrant white cup-liKe flowers six inches across in April 



The magnolias that bloom before the leaves look best against a house or bacKground 

 of evergreens — not deciduous trees. Grace Church, on Broadway, New YorK 



All the Magnolias Worth Growing— By wilhelm Miller ss; 



THE TREES THAT HAVE THE LARGEST FLOWERS, AND WHY THEY SHOULD BE PLANTED NOW, 

 AND NEVER IN THE FALL— WHAT EXCUSE THERE IS FOR GROWING EACH PARTICULAR KIND 



[Editorial Note. — This is the eighth of the heretical " Little Monographs " which do not parade botanical knowledge but aim to discover the real, comparative horti- 

 cultural value of every species. No plant is mentioned without telling in plain English what inducement it offers for us to part with our hard-earned cash. These articles 

 contain a new kind of " key," which shows how each species differs from every other — not in terms of dead herbarium specimens, but in live garden characters, such as 

 the color and size of the flowers. Corrections are invited.] 



HAVE you never seen in April a small 

 tree in city yards flowering before the 

 leaves, and bearing more than a thousand of 

 fragrant white cuplike flowers six inches 

 across and pinkish outside? Then you 

 have lived in vain, for you have missed the 

 best large-flowered tree in cultivation — Mag- 

 nolia Soulangeana. 



This Magnolia Soulangeana is the type of 

 a group of hybrids that get all their good 

 points, save one, from the white Chinese 

 magnolia (Magnolia Yulan, often called 

 conspicua.) The beautiful rosy color is de- 

 rived from a tender shrub that has no other 

 merit — the purple magnolia (M. obovata.) 

 Let us get a clear picture of these two parents 

 and we shall appreciate the wonder and 

 beauty of the Soulangeana hybrids. 



THE WHITE CHINESE MAGNOLIA — YULAN 



Look at the photograph of Yulan shown 

 above and imagine a symmetrical tree, 20 x 20 

 feet, evenly laden throughout with thousands 

 of these white chalices that turn to stars 

 just before the flowers drop their petals and 

 make a snowbank on the lawn. Nothing 



purer or sweeter can be imagined. But it is 

 a little cold for the time of year. The first 

 flowers of spring are pallid, but when the 

 magnolia blooms, the pink of the peach 

 blossoms is symbolizing the return to life, the 

 joy of youth, the jubilant certainty of spring. 

 Who can make red blood appear in the mar- 

 ble cheek of this flower? 



THE SOURCE OF ROSLNESS — OBOVATA 



All the magnolias are white, or nearly so. 

 Every ruddy tint that any of them shows 

 may be considered a dilution of the color 

 which is found in the purple magnolia 

 (M. obovata.) The most splendid of the tender 

 species show this color in the heart of the 

 flower — the filaments of the stamens. Ob- 

 ovata is the only species that has it on the 

 petals, and there only on the outside and at 

 the base. No magnolia has the color on the 

 inside of the petals — more's the pity! 



Except for its value in plant-breeding I see 

 no inducement to grow obovata. While 

 two nurserymen as far north as New York 

 manage to grow it in sheltered spots it is 

 essentially a tender species and I fear it is too 



purple. The flower has no fragrance and all 

 of its hybrids are better than it. 



THE WONDERFUL SOULANGEANA HYBIRDS 



From such a source are derived those 

 lovely tints of pink, rose, carmine and crim- 

 son that animate the varieties known to 

 nurserymen as Magnolia Alexandrina, Len- 

 nei, Norbertiana, Soulangeana, speciosa, 

 speciosa nova, cyathiformis, rustica rubra, 

 spectabilis, superba and triumphans, the last 

 four of which appear in foreign catalogues. 

 I confess that I cannot sharply discriminate 

 these kinds, but this much seems certain: 

 Soulangeana is the cheapest and most pop- 

 ular ; Alexandrina blooms a week earlier and 

 is one of the largest and brightest of the pinks ; 

 speciosa is a little smaller and lighter than 

 Soulangeana and about a week later ; Lennei 

 is one of the darkest colored. Judging from 

 the colored plates, the new one, rustica rubra, 

 is the best of all. 



THE EARLIEST MAGNOLIA — STELLATA 



The best white-flowered shrub that 

 blooms toward the end of March is Hall's 



