Magnolia × loebneri 'Ruth' SPRING WELCOME

Common Name: magnolia 
Type: Tree
Family: Magnoliaceae
Zone: 3 to 7
Height: 15.00 to 20.00 feet
Spread: 15.00 to 20.00 feet
Bloom Time: March to April
Bloom Description: Pink bud opening to white
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Flowering Tree
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Fruit: Showy

Culture

Best grown in moist, organically rich, well-drained loams in full sun to part shade. Generally intolerant of soil extremes (dry or wet). Intolerant of most urban pollutants. May take 3-4 years before first blooms appear. Best sited in a protected location, because early spring frosts can damage flowers.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Magnolia × loebneri, commonly called Loebner magnolia, is a deciduous hybrid magnolia (M. kobus × M. stellata). It is a small tree typically growing to 20-30’ tall with a rounded crown. It is more often grown in a multi-trunked form that as a single trunk tree. Fragrant star-like white flowers (4-6” wide) with 10-15 petals appear in early spring before the foliage (March – April in St. Louis). Flowers give way to cone-like fruits that ripen to red in late summer, releasing individual red coated seeds suspended on slender threads at maturity. Fruits are sometimes absent on this hybrid. Obovate, medium green leaves (to 5” long). A number of hybrid cultivars are now available in commerce featuring flowers that are white, blush-pink, lilac pink or pink.

Genus name honors Pierre Magnol, French botanist (1638-1715).

Specific epithet honors Max Loebner, a German horticulturist, who made the first cross of this hybrid in the early 1900s.

‘Ruth’ is an outstanding pest-free magnolia sold under the registered trade name of SPRING WELCOME® that blooms reliably even after early spring frosts. It is dense and well branched with pale pink buds that open to 3 to 4 ½ inch pristine white blooms in early spring. It can be grown single or multi-trunked and is recommended for use as a large foundation shrub or small specimen tree.

Problems

Late spring frost may damage early blooms.

Uses

Excellent specimen tree for the lawn or shrub border. Also effective on the periphery of a woodland area.