Magnolia × ‘Charles Coates’ – Hybrid Magnolia – 3-Gallon

A hybrid between our native Umbrella Magnolia (M. tripetala) and Oyama Magnolia from east Asia (M. sieboldii). It wasn’t a planned cross but was discovered growing as a seedling at The Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, England in 1946-1947 by plant propagator Charles F. Coates. The pleasantly fragrant 5-7” diameter flowers resemble Oyama Magnolia, though instead of nodding they are held erect. Flowers have 9-12 white petal-like tepals surrounding a center of showy purplish-red stamens and usually have a somewhat crumpled appearance though that does not detract from their beauty. Foliage is similar to Umbrella Magnolia with large, ovate, deep green leaves (up to 10″ long) appearing in whorl-like clusters at the branchlet tips. Oyama Magnolia is an understory tree in the wild and ‘Charles Coates’ prefers to grow in at least a little bit of shade, especially from the hot afternoon sun. It’s very cold hardy and can be grown throughout our area, even at higher elevations in the Catskills where it can handle more sun.