Magnolia Cultivars C

'Caerhays Belle'

Flowers precocious, in March (S England), outfacing and cup-shaped to 30 cm across, salmon pink, deeper outside; tepals 12, heavy-textured, spoon-shaped with the tips of the inner ones curving upwards; fruit pink, to 20 cm long. A very floriferous small to medium tree which also fruits freely. From a deliberate cross by Charles Michael, Caerhays Castle, in 1951; the original at Caerhays measured 14 m × 404 cm in 2016 (The Tree Register 2022). Commended by Philippe de Spoelberch as a ‘most spectacular cultivar’ (pers. comm. 2021).

Magnolia 'Caerhays Belle' (Caerhays Castle, 1st March 2022). Image Julian Sutton.

Magnolia 'Caerhays Belle' flowering prolifically at Caerhays Castle (3rd March 2020). Image Julian Sutton.

The original Magnolia 'Caerhays Belle' at Caerhays Castle (3rd March 2020). Image Julian Sutton.

A heavy crop of buds on Magnolia 'Caerhays Belle' at Cherry Tree Arboretum, Shropshire, in October 2022. Image John Grimshaw.

'Caerhays Splendour'

Flowers precocious, mid-March in S England, cup-and-saucer shaped, a unique shade of vivid, deep pink. An upright, vigorous, small (potentially medium) tree selected at Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, registered in 2014 from a cross made in 2000 by Jaimie Parsons (Edwards & Marshall 2019). Williams, Gardiner & Gallagher (2016) highlight it as an up-and-coming cultivar in Europe.

Magnolia 'Caerhays Splendour' (3rd March 2020). Image Caerhays Estate.

Magnolia 'Caerhays Splendour' (4th March 2020). Image Caerhays Estate.

Magnolia 'Caerhays Splendour' (21st March 2021). Image Caerhays Estate.

Magnolia 'Caerhays Splendour' (right) contrasting with 'Caerhays Belle' (left) (Caerhays Castle, 7th March 2020). Image Caerhays Estate.

'Caerhays Surprise'

Flowers precocious, 20–25 cm across, tending to face outwards on long, slender, arching shoots; tepals 9–12, narrow, deep purplish pink outside, paler inside. Long flowering, the last flowers appearing with the leaves. A small tree, tolerant of hotter summers than M. campbellii Mollicomata Group. From a deliberate cross made by Philip Tregunna at Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, 1959, and for too long underrated. Philippe de Spoelberch singles it out, noting ‘late, hardy, deep colour’ (pers. comm. 2021).

Magnolia 'Caerhays Surprise' (Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, 9th April 2021). Image Julian Sutton.

Long, slender shoots can give younger specimens of Magnolia 'Caerhays Surprise' a rather leggy appearance (Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, 9th April 2021). Image Julian Sutton.

'Cairn Croft'

See Magnolia × thomsoniana ‘Cairn Croft’.

'Cameo'

Flowers precocious, tulip- to cup-shaped; tepals deep reddish-purple outside, blush inside, giving a bicoloured effect. A small tree selected by Vance Hooper, New Zealand before 2015, a sister seedling to ‘Cleopatra’; marketed internationally and protected by European plant breeder’s rights and US Plant Patent.

Magnolia 'Cameo' offered by Vertigrow Plants, York (March 2022). Image John Grimshaw.

'Candy Cane'

Flowers precocious; 9 erect tepals, white with rose pink stripe running the full length, the colour more intense on inner whorls. Small to medium tree of uncertain parentage selected by John Allen Smith, from Todd Gresham’s hybrids at Gloster Arboretum, MS before 1994; starred by Philippe de Spoelberch, Belgium, as worthwhile (pers. comm. 2021).

Magnolia 'Candy Cane' (18th April 2010). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

Magnolia 'Candy Cane' (18th April 2010). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

'Carlos'

Fragrant, erect flowers emerging just before and with the leaves (mid-April to early May, Belgium), rather frost resistant; inner tepals pale yellow, greenish at base, ~9 × 2.5 cm; outer tepals papery, greenish yellow. A small tree raised by August Kehr before 2003; grown at Arboretum Wespelaar and named by Philippe de Spoelberch for Belgian nurseryman Carlos Verhelst. However, de Spoelberch now singles it out for comment as ‘not the best yellow’ (pers. comm. 2021). Lobdell (2021) gives the pollen parent as M. × veitchii rather than its parent M. denudata.

Magnolia 'Carlos' (23rd April 1996). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

Magnolia 'Carlos' (29th April 2006). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

'Cecil Nice'

Flowers precocious, cup shaped; tepals 9, soft pink outside, white inside. An extremely floriferous medium tree, a seedling at Nymans of similar origin to the better known ‘Anne Rosse’, before 2000, named for a head gardener there. Philippe de Spoelberch finds it ‘very frost sensitive’ in N Belgium (pers. comm. 2021).

Magnolia 'Cecil Nice' is very floriferous, with its large, loosely held flowers a product of the putative M. sargentiana var. robusta parent. RHS Garden Wisley, UK. March 2023. Image Jack Aldridge.

A sizeable Magnolia 'Cecil Nice' in full flower on Battleston Hill, RHS Garden Wisley, UK. March 2023. Image Jack Aldridge.

Magnolia 'Cecil Nice' (6th April 2010). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

Magnolia 'Cecil Nice', an extremely floriferous small tree (6th April 2010). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

'Centennial'

See Magnolia stellata ‘Centennial’.

'Charisma'

Flowers precocious, cup-and-saucer-shaped, 20–30 cm across, deep rosy purple (redder than ‘J.C. Williams’). An upright to spreading, free-flowering small tree selected before 2018 by Ian Baldick, New Zealand before 2018 (Magnolia Grove 2022; Heerdegen & Eisenhut 2020). Highly regarded by Philippe de Spoelberch, Belgium (pers. comm. 2021).

Magnolia 'Charisma' (Herkenrode, 19th March 2020). Image Christophe Crock.

Magnolia 'Charisma', a New Zealand cultivar which also performs well in Europe (Herkenrode, 16th March 2020). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

Magnolia 'Charisma' (Herkenrode, 19th March 2020). Image Christophe Crock.

Autumn colour in Magnolia 'Charisma' (Herkenrode, 14th November 2018). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

'Charles Coates'

Flowers with the leaves (May to June in S England), upfacing, to 18 cm across, fragrant; tepals creamy white, often crumpled; stamens crimson and conspicuous. Leaves generally resembling those of M. tripetala and clustered towards branch tips, broadly elliptic to 27 × 14 cm, papery with glaucous underside and a distinctive hairy midrib beneath. A large shrub or small (rarely medium) tree, with upright main stems and broadly spreading lateral branches. Full sun and dry air tend to scorch its young leaves; a sheltered site in light shade is ideal. A self-sown seedling which arose at RBG Kew around 1946, named for a propagator at Kew (Spongberg 1976). It was one of three apparent sister seedlings (Bean 1981; Treseder 1978): the others (perhaps inferior) were not named but material from one of them is believed to survive at Burncoose, Cornwall (The Tree Register 2022).

Unlike its parent M. sieboldii, the flowers of Magnolia 'Charles Coates' face upwards (26th May 2018). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

'Charles Dickens'

An evergreen variety often listed as a cultivar of M. grandiflora, with a broadly spreading crown, very large flowers to 15 cm across, and broad green leaves with a distinctive pale appearance on first opening, and a good indumentum. The bright red fruits are very large and persist 6–8 weeks. Introduced before 1965 by Jewel Templeton from the garden of one Charles Dickens, Franklin County, TN. Tetraploid (2n=76); probably a hybrid of M. grandiflora (Lobdell 2021), perhaps with M. macrophylla (Dawes Arboretum 2021). In England there is a fine specimen which fruits beautifully at Ventnor Botanic Garden, Isle of Wight (7.2 m × 44 cm in 2009), and several of similar size at RHS Garden Wisley (The Tree Register 2022); Philippe de Spoelberch also stars it as worthwhile from his Belgian perspective (pers. comm. 2021).

Probably a hybrid of M. grandiflora, Magnolia 'Charles Dickens' has exceptionally fine, long-lasting fruit (Ventnor Botanic Garden, 18th November 2021). Image Julian Sutton.

Magnolia 'Charles Dickens' with seed (Herkenrode, 17th December 2006). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

Magnolia 'Charles Dickens': indumentum on the leaf underside (Herkenrode, 24th February 2018). Image Christophe Crock.

Magnolia 'Charles Dickens' in flower at Herkenrode. Image Christophe Crock.

'Charles Raffill'

See Magnolia campbellii Raffillii Group.

'China Town'

See Magnolia sinostellata ‘China Town’.

'Chrysanthemumiflora'

See Magnolia stellata ‘Chrysanthemumiflora’.

CHURCH MOUSE

See Magnolia laevifolia ‘GCCHU2008’.

'Chyverton'

See under Magnolia campbellii Alba Group.

'Chyverton Dark'

See Magnolia sargentiana ‘Chyverton Dark’.

'Chyverton Pale'

See Magnolia sargentiana ‘Chyverton Pale’.

'Chyverton Red'

See Magnolia dawsoniana ‘Chyverton Red’.

'Claret Cup'

See Magnolia sprengeri ‘Claret Cup’.

'Clarke'

See Magnolia dawsoniana ‘Clarke’.

'Claudia Wannamaker'

See Magnolia grandiflora ‘Claudia Wannamaker’.

'Cleopatra'

Flowers precocious, goblet-shaped to 20 cm across, deep reddish purple inside and out. A small tree of upright to pyramidal habit, selected in 2003 by Vance Hooper, New Zealand; marketed and protected in North America, Europe and Australasia (Lunaplant 2021; Justia Patents 2022).

Magnolia 'Cleopatra' (17th April 2017). Image Philippe de Spoelberch.

'Coates'

See Magnolia × soulangeana ‘Coates’.

'Colossus'

See Magnolia sieboldii ‘Colossus’.

'Columbus'

See Magnolia × veitchii ‘Columbus’.

'Concolor'

See Magnolia salicifolia ‘Concolor’.

'Copeland Court'

See Magnolia sprengeri ‘Copeland Court’.

'Coral Lake'

Flowers precocious but late, to ~18 cm across; tepals 11, ‘a blend of pinks shading in to vertical yellow stripes’ (Callaway 1998). A rather narrow small tree raised from a cross between two M. acuminata × denudata hybrids by David Leach, Holden Arboretum, OH; registered 1997. Starred as worthwhile by Philippe de Spoelberch, Belgium (pers. comm. 2021).

Magnolia 'Coral Lake' (27th April 2017). Image The Morton Arboretum.

Magnolia 'Coral Lake' (Arboretum Wespelaar, 22nd April 2019). Image Christophe Crock.

Magnolia 'Coral Lake' (Arboretum Bokrijk, 11th April 2017). Image Christophe Crock.

Magnolia 'Coral Lake' (Arboretum Bokrijk, 11th April 2017). Image Christophe Crock.

'Curly Head'

Flowers pastel pink and yellow on white, emerging with the leaves. Leaf margins revolute. A tall, dense, upright tree. Raised by Phil Savage, MI, before 1990.