Yellow Bird magnolia

Yellow Bird magnolia for sale

Choose a size - pot-grown

All our pot-grown trees are grown for us to our specification by the Frank P Matthews nursery.

• PG12-year 12L pot-grown tree, £86.00
  Very large tree (4m-7m after 10 years)
  

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Need help?

Ask our fruit tree experts on 01759 392007 or fill in our contact form.

Tree specification

Photos of trees as supplied | Tree sizes and forms

Next deliveries

Order now for delivery from week commencing 20th April onwards.

Delivery charges

Delivery for a single tree starts at £9.95, it is calculated based on your postcode.

All about Yellow Bird magnolia

Yellow Bird is, as the name suggests, a yellow-flowered Magnolia. The yellow is more intense than some other yellow-flowered Magnolias, and similar to yellow daffodils.

It is in flower towards the end of the Magnolia blossom season - in May. The flowers typically last about three weeks, and unlike many Magnolias the leaves are borne at the same time.

Yellow Bird grows with a compact upright habit, and is a good choice if you want a Magnolia for a smaller garden.

Growing and Training

As with all Magnolias, plant in a sunny sheltered spot for best results. However Yellow Bird is very late flowering by Magnolia standards and should escape most frosts.

History

Yellow Bird was developed by Doris Stone of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and introduced in 1981. It is a good example of a "back-cross", in other words crossing a hybrid (developed from two different Magnolia species) with one of the parents in order to try to get a more of an influence from that parent. In this case the parentage is Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Evamaria' and Magnolia acuminata - one of the parents of 'Evamaria'.  Magnolia acuminata is known in the USA as the 'Cucumber tree' and has larger leaves and more vigorous growth than some Magnolias. The result of the back-cross is a more intense yellow flower than 'Evamaria', as well as later flowering, with the flowers are borne alongside the leaves.

Like many of the hybrid Magnolias developed at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens it is assigned to the hybrid species Magnolia x brooklynensis.

British-grown trees

Unlike many garden centres and online retailers, the vast majority of our fruit trees are grown in the UK. Find out more.

All our trees are certified under the Plant Healthy scheme, supervised by the Plant Health Alliance. Other stakeholders include Defra and the RHS. Find out more.

Guaranteed fruit trees

When you buy your fruit tree from Orange Pippin Fruit Trees we guarantee it for the first season in your garden while it gets established. If it doesn't grow successfully, we'll either replace it the following season or offer a refund, subject to some conditions. Find out more.

More about magnolia

Magnolias are one of the most ancient of flowering trees, and are today grown primarily for their attractive flowers. The flowers are primitive, and the petals lack the protective sepals found in most flowering trees which evolved later. Instead they have tepals, which perform both functions - and this is the main reason why it is best to plant Magnolias in sheltered locations.

Compared to other flowering ornamental trees, Magnolias seem to have an unusually wide colour palette, with white, pink, yellow, purple, and red varieties available. Many species are deciduous but there are also semi-evergreen and full evergreen varieties. The genus is also geographically spread, with both Asian and American species. This diversity is perhaps a result of the great age of this genus, which dates back almost 100 million years, to a time when the continents we know today did not exist.

Magnolias do best in well-drained soils and sheltered conditions, but they need plenty of water over the summer - use a mulch to help retain moisture. They are tolerant of clay and some varieties will also tolerate chalk, but they generally prefer neutral or slightly acidic conditions. Many are also tolerant of air pollution so are a good choice for city gardens.

Magnolias do not like to be transplanted, so plant the tree directly in its final position. They have quite shallow roots, so avoid planting anything else nearby.

To encourage flowering use small applications of tomato fertilizer over the summer.

Magnolias are mostly very cold-hardy and suitable for all areas of the UK, but paradoxically frost can easily spoil the appearance of the blossom, hence the recommendation to plant in a sheltered position.

Magnolias generally need little or no pruning - but can be pruned hard after the spring flowering is over if necessary. Pruning can be used to check the height of the tree - remove the thicker branches and prune back to the smaller flower-bearing newer shoots. You can also remove lower shoots to give a more tree-like appearance, although many Magnolias have a naturally shrub-like habit and will produce new shoots from low down on the main stem.

Magnolias don't usually produce nectar (they arose before insects evolved) so are not particularly helpful for bees, but many of them produce seeds which are attractive to wildlife.

Most of our Magnolias are grafted on to Magnolia kobus rootstocks - which are robust and hardy, and do not produce suckers.

Hybrid Magnolias are likely to flower within 1-2 years after planting.  Older varieties may take 3-4 years, and possibly as long as 5 years for species such as Magnolia sprengeri.