tiarella
Louisiana
Sweetbay Magnolia in flower
Photo by and (c)2008 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man). Co-attribution must be given to the Chanticleer Garden. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Sweetbay Magnolia

Magnolia virginiana

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars feed on its leaves. It grows wild in 37 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes.

Light
Part shade to full sun
Soil
Moist soil
Size
22.5 ft to 35 ft tall, 22.5 ft wide
Flowers
White
Leaves
Semi-evergreen
Roots
Woody roots; wants 30 in of soil
Kind
Tree, Shrub
Add to a bedPlan it in a pot

Planted young

Sweetbay Magnolia, drawn in a bed

in flowerfruit or seed

What it feeds

Butterflies
Host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Caterpillars
22 kinds of caterpillars
Bees
7 kinds of native bees
Birds
2 kinds of birds
On its flowers
Mining bee (Andrena miserabilis), Mason bee (Ashmeadiella rhodognatha), Small carpenter bee (Ceratina viridis), Masked bee (Hylaeus capitosus)

Grows well with

American Witch-hazel22 ft tallCommon Waxmyrtle22 ft tallEastern Redbud25 ft tallCommon Pawpaw22 ft tallFringetree21 ft tallAmerican Wisteria28 ft tallSourwood25 ft tallYaupon Holly15 ft tall

Facts from the Quercus record for Magnolia virginiana.