Michelia x Fairy Magnolia White

Feature Tree for May

This tree, growing in Elizabeth Zoffman’s garden, attracted much attention during the recent Vancouver Island ARS 2026 Spring Convention garden tour.

Floriferous and scented, Magnolia ‘Michelia x Fairy‍ White’ ‍ is the next evergreen tree or shrub for your garden.

This plant was originally known as Michelia, but in 2000, advancements in DNA sequencing suggested that evolutionary relationships would more accurately be represented if Michelia was reclassified as a subsection of Magnolia. Michelia are evergreen, but not with the big leathery leaves of the American Magnolia grandiflora types.

Mark Jury, also know as New Zealand’s Mr. Magnolia, became interested in the characteristics of Michelia, and bred the hybrid Fairy Magnolias. He perceives a Magnolia as a large flowering deciduous tree or shrub. By contrast, Michelia is evergreen and small flowered and different in important ways. One significant distinction is that Michelia, unlike Magnolia which have a single flower the end of a given branch, has set flower buds down the stem at nearly every leaf axel, not just on the tips.

Michelia x Fairy Magnolia White blooms culminate in spring, but continue flowering for months, sometimes with a second blooming in summer.

Michelia x Fairy Magnolia

Because it is a dense, evergreen plant, it can be grown as a hedge or screen.

This Fairy Magnolia has a bushy shrub habit, growing 9 to 12 feet high and 5 to 7 feet wide in only 5 to 7 years. It responds well to pruning for desired shape.

Its attractive russet-coloured buds open to fragrant white flowers almost covering the entire tree.

This lovely plant grows best in moist well-drained soil, in sun or part shade, and is hardy in zones with temperatures as cool as -12 to -17C.

A lovely addition to gardens of any size