Magnolia virginiana australis 'Santa Rosa'

Sweetbay magnolia ranges across the moist ground of the eastern United States, from Massachusetts to Texas, and in the South becomes the larger, evergreen tree botanists call Magnolia virginiana var. australis. 'Santa Rosa' is a superior evergreen selection of that southern variety, a Woodlanders introduction gathered in Santa Rosa County, in the Florida panhandle.

The distinction is in the foliage. Where an ordinary sweetbay can look a little thin, 'Santa Rosa' carries dark green leaves that are notably leathery, extremely glossy, and larger than most, up to eight inches long, silvery white beneath in the family manner. The plant is vigorous and robust, building quickly into a handsome evergreen of thirty to forty feet, and the creamy flowers add a soft lemon note to the sweetbay's usual sweet fragrance.

The selection has an admirer in high places. Dr. Michael Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, singled out 'Santa Rosa' as a vigorous grower, more robust than most, with leaves to eight inches and foliage handsome enough to be worthwhile for commercial production. Coming from Dirr, the dean of American woody-plant horticulture, that is high praise indeed. The genus Magnolia honors Pierre Magnol, the seventeenth-century French botanist.

Use 'Santa Rosa' where a glossy, fine evergreen is wanted: as a specimen, a screen, a street or lawn tree, or an evergreen anchor in a mixed border, and site the tree near a walk or window where the lemon-scented summer flowers can be enjoyed. Sweetbay is one of the few magnolias at home in wet ground, so a moist, acidic, sun-to-part-shade spot suits the tree perfectly. The flowers feed pollinators and the foliage hosts the eastern tiger swallowtail, a native evergreen that earns its keep in every season.