They can start blooming small...., especially cultivars such as Little Gem. I don't remember how tall/old others were when first blooming. This time of year (mid October), the ONLY variety I have, that is still blooming is Little Gem. Each of the seed cones you see (called follicles) started out as a flower.

Yeah, and I missed it, I was in Williamsburg, Va and collected cones from larger Mags down there. I went to Virginia beach also. I bought another S.Mag while in Williamsburg, Va and a Sweetbay Mag. I'm going to try and propagate some S.Mags for my friend that I bought a tree seedling for when I bought mine (2012) and hers blew out of the ground. I'm thinking the seed grown one can get some good roots going in the ground before it has those sail-like leaves. She has some clay in her soil, and it's best to try with seeds instead of buying a plant and having it fail, she likely has some topsoil in some areas of her yard, and just not so much where she tried before. Okay, I just talked to her on the phone, we'll be growing them in pots. I'll talk her into sowing a couple in the ground, she doesn't know it yet.

BTW, I tried a cultivar that was supposed to be hardy to zone 5, and it died in my zone 6. I like my Reg S.Mag seed grown. I think it was Brackens brown beauty which I had thought was a pyramidal cultivar because when I was in Florida they all were conicle in the nurseries, but someone explained that the nurseries have them close together and they are shaped that way, so duh, I guess they may be normal shaped in a wide open landscape. I thought I'd be going to Florida next week but, there is too much damage in NC to drive down, so it's a no go for me.

Supposedly, they collected seed from a parent tree at a residence in Greenwood, Mississippi. I bought one from them around the same time, so I bet ours are from the same parent. I planted mine back at the edge of the woods and it's probably about 10' tall now.

Doesn't surprise me. My neighbors have one that volunteered, they transplanted it and it just bloomed this year. Smaller than yours.

My M. virginiana did something weird this past year. It had been coming along fine, then, the branches seemed to grow down rather than up. I know Magnolias can grow LOW to the ground but this was different, it was decidedly deformed in growth habit. I never use any poisons so I don't know what happened to it. Ended up pulling it out in the Summer. Brackens Brown I do not have, but it is supposedly among the hardier cultivars, maybe yours died for reasons other than cold. Surprising, it is not the most common cultivar available around me (in NJ), usually, it is either Edith Bogue or Victoria. I have several different varieties of M. grandiflora though, and the only one I was really disappointed by was an unlabeled M. grandiflora. I think it was 'Green Giant'. It has almost green on the underside of the leaves. Leaves were a lighter green in color but biggest difference was it growth rate, twice as fast as most, BUT it was much more vulnerable to....cold, wind damage, SNOW and ICE, etc. It browned terribly in Winter. I ended up chopping it down. Today, the stump finally rotted out (always was tripping over that stump).

Alanama, BY THEY you mean Mossy oak natives nursery? Well, I guess that's possible. Yours should be flowering soon then, or has it already? I was thinking I would be waiting until the tree was at least in it's 20's for flowers. You don't see evergreen Magnolias around here. The first I had seen besides my own was in a rich side of town area. I am a white woman, but wanted a weave sewn in my hair, if your a straight male, just forget and move on, if you are a gay male or a woman who knows what a weave is lets just go on here, a young lady who went and learned to sew in a weave lived in this section of town. I rubbernecked when I saw these 2 trees, they were pretty large and full S.Mags, I already had mine in the ground for a few years, but, it gave me extra confidence that I was correct to assume that these trees could grow and do fine in zone 6 Pa. But, anyway. I would love to see more people growing them in their yards. But, unfortunately, I guess people don't know they can. Well, I am hoping to get my friend Donna to give me some of her seeds from her seed pod, because mine only gave me 3 good seeds, I know she has more, and she lives in a mobile home park, so she can only use so many. She's gonna sow a few Compton oak acorns and keep the biggest one. I wanted to direct sow my friend Loretta some S.Mags, but she wants to sow them in pots. I really want the roots to go directly into the soil because the wind blew her seedling tree out that I bought her in 2012. I'll talk her into direct sowing 1 tree. Sorry for rattling on Bama and anyone reading.

Good to know Logan, have you chosen a Live oak for your yard? Subtropix, wow, are you done with evergreen Mags? Or are you gonna choose a different type?

I am certainly going to grow a live oak, just not sure in which location.

That's great! I am happy for you. I have picked several acorns in Williamsburg,Va but they are smaller than any Live oak acorns I have ever seen, and you already have acorns for your Live oaks. Logan do you only have a small space for the Live oaks?

Poaky,

Yes, I bought mine from Mossy Oak. I remember at the time it said in their listing that the seed collected was from an old tree at a river front home in Greenwood. They don't even have them listed anymore so I guess they never collected anymore seed. I really didn't need a magnolia at the time since they're everywhere here, I just ordered it to meet the $25 minimum.

Magnolias down here bloom in early summer, and have already opened their seed pods. I have one down by the road that gets topped by the power company, but it was loaded with seeds this year.

Poaky, I do grow evergreen Magnolia (M. grandiflora). I have large trees of the ones listed below. I just got rid of the 'Green Giant' due to its apparent unsuitability to a northern climate with snow and ice potentials in the Winter (it was replaced with a Dawn Redwood). (In my area it does snow, ice is rarer, but minimum temperatures are in the teens and the average Winter minimums are in the 20's; but the snows tend to be wet and HEAVY.)

2 Magnolia grandiflora 'Victoria'

2 Magnolia grandiflora 'Edith Bogue'

1 M. grandiflora 'Majestic Beauty'

2 M. grandiflora 'Teddy Bear'

1 M. grandiflora 'Little Gem' and 3 smaller ones

1 M. grandiflora (unidentified, could be a named cultivar or not)

Okay, Subtropix, sorry I just assumed you didn't have a bunch more, sorry about that. Bama, Hope you don't mind the shortening of your moniker, yeah, they no longer offer them for sale, I would just buy my friend a couple more and try to stake them down, for her, but, who knows when they'll start to offer Mags again? Mossy oaks seems to specialize in oaks and offer a few other plants. I hope the seeds I have are easy to propagate a few trees from. BAMA, I have several small acorns from a couple Live oaks in Williamsburg,Va, if you or someone you know wants them. I'll mail them to you FREE. I will sow a couple in pots for myself, but all the others are yours or someone who would love to get them.

Subtropix, if you don't want to bother I understand. If you are fine, and have the time and the space in your camera, take pics of all these different Mags and label which is which. I know not everybody has money to get cameras and disks and all that, but, if you do, let me see it all. If not no biggie.

I have some empty, open areas I am considering for them. The acorns are small compared to Q. Alba, more similar to rubra.

Logan, Just wondering, do you want a small bit of the acorns I got from Williamsburg,Va? I can't say for sure they are 100% Live oak Q.Virginiana. I can send you a few and you can put them in a place out of the way in case they don't do so great. But, really, they should do fine in NC, unless you are having weather problems from hurricane Mathew, which I never did ask you about, I'm sorry about that. I was going to go to Florida and leave yesterday Friday Oct 14th, but there were several routes that were not open due to flooding from Mathew. So maybe next year 'll go to Florida. The best time to go is when it's cold in Pa. Like now, but, we would have to fly and we didn't have the dough to fly there. So Logan if you send me a message in my GW messages with your address, I will send you several of the small acorns from the Live oaks in Williamsburg,Va. If you don't want to give your email address etc it's fine. I also have some hardier acorns from a guy in zone 7a, I can send you a couple of them, if i remember.

I collected a lot while I had the chance, so I won't need anymore. I will keep you posted with my results. My email address is caldwellhomegarden@gmail.com for future reference. We got some wind off of mathew, it ripped up some zinnias but that's about it.