Why restrict yourself to things which bloom at the same time? Starting with winter aconites, moving on to Snowdrops, cyclamen coum, Corydalis solida, crocuses, chionodoxa and scillas you could have a succession of blooms beneath the bare branches for weeks before the magnolia flowers. Once the burgundy magnolia opens very pale pink tulips would work imo but you'd need to replant annually as I can't think of any species tulips which are the right colour. Maybe someone else can. White pulmonarias might be an idea, especially if they have silver foliage which would mask the bulb foliage later. Ferns could be useful too as the magnolia shade grows. In late summer you could have cyclamen hederifolium which would later give you silver marked foliage all through the winter.

Thank you for the ideas! I definitely plan to plant some early bloomers, too. Was just looking for suggestions of combos to make a big impact when the magnolia is blooming. You have suggested a few bulbs I'm not familiar with, so I will have fun looking those up! Ferns are in the plan for sure as we are at the edge of a wooded area and they will very complementary. : )

My little magnolia is only about 2.5 feet from the root ball right now - I understand they are slow growers so shade won't be an issue for a number of years, I wouldn't imagine.

It won't be large enough to hide bulb foliage other than some of the smallest ones, but Veronica 'Georgia Blue' is one of my favorites for underplanting shrubs. It will wind around other perennials, has lovely bright blue spring flowers, and has tidy foliage the rest of the year which gets darker in colder weather.

Anything blue will look good with the flower color of the tree. A related point is that magnolias don't like a lot of digging among their roots, I would limit new plantings to small things that don't need deep holes - especially after the tree has rooted out a ways.

Another thing about this planting you will not have anticipated is that this cultivar appears to be quite prone to summer foliage mildew - at least when still in nursery containers. This drawback will have been picked up from the M. liliiflora involvement in its hybrid parentage. So you may be disappointed if you are expecting it to be the centerpiece of an attractive summer display - the mildew on plants of 'Genie' at a local outlet one or two summers back was probably about the worst I have seen on a deciduous magnolia of this type.

Thank you for the Veronica suggestion. That's a good one.

I hope it doesn't get mildew...so annoying. I've had reasonable luck keeping mildew off other susceptible plants by spraying leaves early in morning when there is lots of time to dry. The spores can't survive the water. Right now it's in a new bed with bark mulch and not much else, so hopefully it won't pick up anything from the soil at least.

I have seen absolutely no foliar issues with V. 'G.B.'. I have it in 3 spots, one in almost full shade and two in almost full sun. The sunny spots have more clay, while the shady one has a lot of fine sand in the soil, and both are fairly acid. None of them ever get watered, though they are mulched. Foliage is denser and darker in sun, but healthy regardless. I've grown it for something between 5 and 10 years, so if it were susceptible, I think it would have appeared by now.

Thank you NHBabs, I think the previous poster was worried about the magnolia getting powdery mildew, not the Veronica. : )