Star magnolia

Magnolia stellata

Slow-growing Japanese magnolia with masses of starry many-petalled fragrant white flowers on bare branches in earliest spring, before the leaves. The compact magnolia for small gardens.

Hardiness ratings

Star magnolia hardiness across the four zone systems
SystemRatingTemperature rangeHow to read it
USDA hardiness zone Zone 4–8 −34.4 °C to −6.7 °C Plant tolerates down to this zone
RHS hardiness rating H6 −20 °C to −15 °C Plant needs at least this level of cold tolerance
Canadian plant hardiness zone Zone 5–8 −23 °C to −1 °C Plant tolerates down to this zone
Australian (ANBG) zone Zone 2–5 −10 °C to 10 °C Plant tolerates down to this zone

Growing notes

  • Plant as a specimen for small gardens — eventually 3–4 m tall, the most reliably compact magnolia in cultivation
  • Flowers very early in spring — sometimes caught by late frosts, but reliably striking when they escape
  • Distinct from the deciduous magnolia already in the database (Magnolia × soulangeana, the larger goblet-flowered tree magnolia) — M. stellata is shrubbier and star-flowered
  • Lightly almond-fragrant in flower

Categories

Related plants

Cross-check Star magnolia against your zones

Reference

Star magnolia on Wikipedia