Purple Eye Magnolia
Magnolia denudata 'Purple Eye'
Height: 30 feet
Spread: 30 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 5a
Description:
A beautiful flowering accent tree for small home landscapes, features showy fragrant white cup-shaped flowers tinged purple in early spring; relatively coarse leaves and a neat upright habit of growth; flowers are occasionally lost to late spring frosts
Ornamental Features
Purple Eye Magnolia is covered in stunning fragrant white cup-shaped flowers with purple eyes held atop the branches in early spring before the leaves. It has dark green deciduous foliage. The large pointy leaves turn coppery-bronze in fall. The fruits are showy red pods displayed from early to late fall.
Landscape Attributes
Purple Eye Magnolia is a deciduous tree with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.
This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Purple Eye Magnolia is recommended for the following landscape applications;
Planting & Growing
Purple Eye Magnolia will grow to be about 30 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 5 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.
This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.