Magnolia Yellow Lantern

The Yellow Lantern Magnolia is a stunning variety that is covered with beautiful yellow flowers in spring from a young age. It is a deciduous medium-sized tree that develops over time a regular pyramid-shaped crown. Its large tulip-shaped flowers, ranging from lemon yellow to creamy white, with a slight lemon scent, bloom in large numbers before the leaves appear. With its beautiful slender silhouette and radiant flowering, 'Yellow Lantern' creates a sensation when placed alone in a medium-sized garden. Like many magnolias, it thrives in soils that are lime-free or only mildly alkaline and do not dry out too much in summer.  

This Yellow Lantern hybrid Magnolia belongs, like all magnolias, to the magnolia family. It is an American horticultural creation by Vos and Kosar dating back to the 1950s. This variety is the result of cross-breeding between the Magnolia acuminata var. subcordata and the M. soulangeana 'Alexandrina'. A small tree with good vigor, it usually has a single trunk, occasionally multiple trunks. Its crown, initially narrow, becomes well-branched and then widens. At the age of 10, the tree measures about 4m (13ft) in height and 3m (10ft) in width. Eventually, it can reach a height of 10m (33ft) and a width of 4 to 5m (13 to 16ft). In spring, in April-May, surprising solitary flowers, slightly scented, upright, and shaped like deep cups bloom before the leaves appear. The floral buds, a bright lemon yellow, open into petals that turn into light sulphur yellow and then creamy white. These medium-sized flowers are born from buds protected by silky bracts. The tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals) have a waxy texture, opening around numerous yellow stamens and encircling a large green pistil. Its deciduous foliage consists of large obovate leaves, 15cm (6in) long, medium green, turning yellowish-brown in autumn. Young leaves are bronze-colored. Yellow Lantern is hardy down to -15°C.

Magnolia flowers, eagerly awaited after winter, are always an event in the garden. While they are often romantic, in pink tones, Yellow Lantern's flowering is undeniably joyful. This small tree will quickly become the star of the garden in spring. It is most often used as a solitary specimen in the middle of a short grass meadow, where its remarkable flowering has a beautiful effect, but it is important to remember that once the flowering is over, it will somewhat fall into anonymity. It can therefore be advantageously combined with a mass of shrubs with staggered flowering: lilacs, Hibiscus, Hydrangeas, Hamamelis, Anemone Tree, Fothergilla…. It is also possible to create beautiful flowering hedges along paths, alternating this Magnolia with other cultivars. Make sure to have a view of it from your windows to not miss any part of this magnificent and uniquely colored display of flowers, an antidote to the winter gloom.