Southern Magnolia
Magnolia grandiflora
A grand Southern evergreen with big, glossy leaves and huge, intensely fragrant white flowers in late spring and summer, a magnificent specimen for a large lawn or park. Give it plenty of room: nothing grows in its dense shade, and it drops leaves in spring and fall. A smaller cultivar suits a typical suburban garden.
- Mature size
- 70 × 40 ft
- 21.5 × 12 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- May–Jun
Southern Magnolia at its mature size
A mature Southern Magnolia grows 60 to 80 feet tall and 30 to 50 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Southern Magnolia looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Jul–Apr
Large glossy leathery dark green leaves.
In flower · May–Jun
Scattered huge creamy-white cup-shaped flowers among the glossy leaves.
Photos
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Growing Southern Magnolia
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Plains and Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and California.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Specimen, deer resistant, pollinators, and fragrant
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Southeastern United States
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Southern Magnolia, that’s about 40 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Southern Magnolia in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other magnolias
Sweetbay Magnolia
Little Gem Magnolia
Saucer Magnolia
Southern MagnoliaAll drawn to the same scale.