Magnolia Species
The wild Magnolia species and their cultivars occur in all sizes from relatively small shrubs to trees that can be well over 20m tall. They also encompass a wide range of flower sizes, colours, and blooming seasons, ranging from the Magnolia campbellii cultivars that can be in flower not long after the shortest day to the summer-blooming Magnolia grandiflora and its cultivars.
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Soulangiana Hybrids
The Magnolia x soulangiana (or soulangeana) cultivars were among the first successful hybrids and new plants of this cross continue to appear even today. Magnolia denudata and Magnolia liliiflora were first crossed in 1820 by French breeder Étienne Soulange-Bodin and these large deciduous shrubs with their abundance of goblet-shaped blooms have been immensely popular ever since.
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Other Hybrids
Many magnolia species have been interbred to produce today's range of garden hybrids. They range includes the huge-flowered, early blooming Magnolia campbellii hybrids, the "yellow-flowered" hybrids of Magnolia acuminata and the many striking, very heavy-blooming hybrids that include Magnolia liliiflora in their parentage.
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Michelia
The roughly 45 species of the evergreen Asian genus Michelia have now been incorporated into Magnolia, but to gardeners and plant enthusiasts, if not botanist, they still remain a very distinct group. They occur naturally from India to Sri Lanka and Japan, covering a tropical to warm-temperate range and many are consequently somewhat tender.
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