Milan Havlis - gardening

Hybridizing and crossing brings new and better varieties of magnolias that have features never seen before. Mark Jury from New Zealand continues this work that was started in 1960´s by his late father Felix. ´Atlas´ is one of his fantastic results, a cross between Magnolia 'Mark Jury' and ...

Betty’s flowers are deep purple outside and almost white inside, there are up to 19 narrow, long petals which in full bloom open like a star as much as 20 cm wide with strong citrus scent. It has attractive bright green foliage, some of which often turns coppery red in the summer ...

Another unique jewel among magnolias is this yellow flowering hybrid. It is a cross between m.denudata and m.acuminata (cucumber magnolia). It was raised by Phil Savage in Michigan, USA, in 1988 and patented three years later. Medium-sized flowers are unusual and truly gorgeous. The colour is cl ...

Among deciduous magnolias there are varieties that bloom later than most of the Asian ones. This selection named Charles Coates originated in England in Kew, famous for its Kew Gardens, by crossing m.sieboldii and m.tripetala. It makes leaves first, and only at the end of spring ...

If you like the spring profusion of blooming magnolias, look at this yellow rarity. Probably the best yellow magnolia so far was raised by a Belgian breeder, Philippe de Spoelberch. It is a cross between ´Miss Honeybee´ a ´Gold Crown´. It is called Daphne. Its flowers are deep yell ...

Another rare magnolia is this cross between magnolia acuminata var. subcordata “Miss Honeybee” and magnolia stellata. It gained flower shape fro stellata and colour from acuminate. Goldstar has medium sized flowers with 14 narrow petals, very similar to star-shape ...

This girl named Jane has cup-shaped, very fragrant flowers. Their colour is bright purple-pink on the outside and almost white inside. There are 10 tepals and fully open bloom is about 10 cm wide. The shrub is rounded like a wide tulip, somewhat regular, with branches growing upwards. Flowers alread ...

This magnolia is a cross of crosses ... mathematically it is: (magnolia liliflora x magnolia cylindrica) x magnolia „Ruby“ , by August Kehr (1997). The result of this rather bizarre looking equation is an exquisite speciality which keeps up to its name and blooms all season long. ...

Satisfaction is a European novelty among magnolias from 2002. Its origin is not known, however, so far it has proven to be a real winner. Satisfaction is a small or mid-sized magnolia with mid-sized to large blossoms. The outside colour is deep burgundy red and pure white in ...

Susan magnolia has narrow, goblet-shaped flowers of deep pink, nearly red colour outside and slightly lighter red inside. This is the reddest coloured variety among spring magnolias. It flowers reliably already when young. It does not require pruning at all. As it has flower buds at the ends ...

Someone has sweet seventeen, others may have Sweet Valentine. This is the name of one the many soulangeana type magnolias. And to have this rarity at home is a true win. It is a cross between magnolias “Sweet Simplicity” and “Black Tulip”, where both plan ...

Another superb selection among magnolias is this beautiful cross between magnolia kobus and magnolia salicifolia, sometimes identified as magnolia x kewensis. It was registered in 1959 and named after Japanese botanist Koichiro Wada who helped with introduction of Japanese species to the west. It be ...

“Yellow Bird” magnolia is a cross between magnolia acuminata and magnolia brooklynensis “Evamaria” from 1967. Yet that year it was suggested the best yellow cultivar so far. Well, a lot of time has passed and these days there are a few more girls to ask t ...

This magnolia variety has only recently been imported from China, under the name Fei Huang. It is a sensational plant with large yellow flowers. It belongs to magnolia denudata (Yulan magnolia) group, however, we have not been able to search for the exact breeding details. The Chinese ...

Lanarth is another breathtaking rare magnolia. It belongs to campbelli group which originated in Nepal and India. Its full name is M. campbellii subsp. mollicomata 'Lanarth'. This one, however, comes from Yunnan Province in China, where it was raised from a seed in 1924 by a famous col ...

Yulan magnolia is the most spectacular species among white flowering magnolias. The flowers are snow white and appear on bare branches in April. The bark is quite dark and offers a nice contrast to the flowers. Deciduous leaves are oval to obovate, upto 15 cm long, mid green of a shade that remai ...

This evergreen pearl among flowering trees is one of the hardiest southern magnolias ever selected. It was named after a lady from New Jersey, USA, who grew magnolias in her garden. One bad winter nearly all of them died. Only this one survived -30°C. So she decided to make cuttings and later on had ...

A very hardy variety of southern magnolia from the USA. Exmouth, which is in leaf all year, blooms already as a young tree with gorgeous creamy white blossoms upto 30 cm wide. The new growths as well as leaf and flower buds are hairy which is supposed to increase its hardiness. And that is rated do ...

How strange to combine ‘grandi’ and ‘little’ in one name. Well, in case of this gorgeousness we do not care a bit. This selection is a special variety with reduced size of everything: overall size, leaves and flowers. On the other hand there is much more of everything. The gl ...

Maryland is a unique variety of bull bay magnolia. It has large, about 25 cm wide creamy white flowers with a lovely perfume which spreads wide mainly in the evening. They come out from early until mid-summer. Flower buds are large, at the ends of new shoots. Maryland is extr ...

This cultivar of evergreen magnolia was born in a Canadian province British Columbia in 1930. Since then it has shown extreme frost tolerance and many Czech enthusiasts rate this variety the most reliable as regards the leaves which are seldom burnt by frost. Its name is Victoria

Goliath is bushier than the species. As you can tell by its name, something is going to be extraordinary here. True: the flowers are extremely large, often 30 cm wide, strongly fragrant and appear on the plant continuously from June, throughout the summer, until the last warm and sunny ...

This variety received its name after a French governor in Canada in 18 century, and has been in cultivation in France for more than 150 years. It is very popular in Britain, too, where it is considered fully hardy. And Italy, namely Tuscany, would most definitely lose its most spectacular symbol wit ...

This is one of the latest varieties of spring magnolias opening its flowers in May, thus avoiding late frosts that may damage flower petals or entire buds. Nigra’s petals are dark burgundy-purple on the outside and very light purple or nearly white on the inside. The goble ...

Another beautiful variety of decidous magnolia. This variety comes from England and has pale to deep pink perfect flowers. It blooms on bare branches early in the spring . Due to shallow roots we suggest not to plant anything near the stem and mulch the magnolia well with bark. Likes slightly acidi ...

Merrill is a Lobner magnolia variety with white flowers. They are star-shaped, with a cup-shaped calyx. It has an advantage of 1-2 weeks later flowering as opposed to star magnolias (m.stellata) which can be damaged during early flowering by late night frost. Flowers appear on b ...

This rather unusual and rare variety of magnolia flowers at the end of spring, or more often beginning of summer as a fully leaved shrub. Flower buds are erect and when they open up, the cup-shaped blooms turn to side or nod down. They are pure white, up to 10 cm across, with crimson anthers. Leaves ...

Star magnolia is a one of the earliest magnolias to flower in March already. It has star-shaped, pure white flowers with a lovely scent. As it blooms on bare branches early in the spring we recommend placing it in front of an evergreen shrub, e.g. cherry laurel, holly, or any bright green con ...

Star magnolia is a one of the earliest magnolias to flower in March already if the weather is nice and warm. Rosea is a popular variety with star-shaped, light pink flowers with a lovely scent. As it blooms on bare branches early in the spring we recommend placing it in front of ...

This star magnolia has much bigger flowers than stellata, not so much in diameter but in thickness. This variety has 25-35 petals which make the bloom look larger. They are snow white, opening from pinkish buds and have a light fragrance. It flowers on bare branches one or two weeks later that stell ...

Umbrella magnolia is a unique plant of its species. It is quite unusual though easy to grow. Its main feature are exotic-looking, large leaves that can grow 30-45 cm long. Their colour is mid-green flashed with bronze from spring to early summer. They are soft and slightly hairy beneath, crow ...

Another jewel among magnolias came from New Zealand, again, and was raised by Mark Jury. Its name is Black Tulip® and has been sought after thanks to its very deep purple colour of flowers. They are rich purple in colour, not too large – only about 10-15 cm across, gob ...

Genie is a sensational new magnolia from New Zealand. After 15 years of breeding there is eventually a plant that holds its deep red-purple colour well and offers prolonged flowering period. The hybridizing process was truly awesome, if you are interested in how this jewel came ...

Manchu Fan is a white flowering rare magnolia from New Zealand. It bears medium-sized, goblet-shaped flowers that are almost pure white with a very light pink smudge at the bottom. The petals look like fragile china and do not open up completely keeping the elegant goblet shape. ...

This new magnolia is for everyone who fell in love with Lanarth variety and its deep purple red cup shaped flowers. It is another of its new clones with large flowers whose deeper colour is present both outside and inside the petals, ...

It was in 1826 when the very first bloom of this famous saucer magnolia came into the world. It was bred by French botanist Etienne Soulange-Bodin who 6 years before that success made a cross between m.denudata and m.liliflora. It blooms on bare branches with beautifully scented, gob ...

Alexandrina is a very popular variety of saucer magnolia. Thanks to the rich colour of outer petals it is rated commercially best-selling saucer magnolia. The flowers are upto 10 cm across, white inside, flushed deep pink and purple outside, with a lovely fragrance. Deciduou ...

We have another gorgeous variety of saucer magnolia. It is called Dorsopurpurea and even though it is not yet too well known, among collectors it belongs to one of the most sought after varieties with deeply coloured flowers. They are dark purple-red outside and only very light ...

Based on the successful crossing of saucer magnolia a new variety was bred at the end of the 19th centutry. Its name is Rustica Rubra or just Rubra and comes from the nursery town Boskoop in the Netherlands. The beautifully scented flowers are goblet- to saucer-shap ...