Tag Archives: Magnolia Genie

“His Majesty The King’s Coronation Collection”

Mark’s Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’

It is a well-known fact that King Charles 111 is a very keen gardener and has been for a long time. We received confirmation this week that Mark’s Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’ was included in a collection of 25 carefully selected plants presented to him to mark his coronation.

The gift was from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), specifically from the Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group of which he has been the royal patron since 2018. Reportedly, he was delighted to receive the plants this week and they are destined for his Sandringham estate which is undergoing a major rejuvenation under his personal direction.

There are only three magnolias included in this collection and all are from Aotearoa New Zealand, which is a sign of this country’s standing in the heady world of international magnolias. Most of the collection is focused on rhododendrons with just three camellias included, one of which is also a NZ hybrid. ‘Festival of Lights’ was bred by the late Neville Haydon of Camellia Haven fame.

Magnolia ‘Genie’ bred by Vance Hooper

The other two magnolias are ‘Genie’ which is the best-known cultivar of breeder, Vance Hooper and the late Os Blumhardt of Whangarei’s ‘Starwars’.

‘Starwars’ dates back to the 1960s when Felix was also raising the first generation of Jury magnolia hybrids. We knew Os Blumhardt fairly well. He used to stay with us when he came to Taranaki and he was most encouraging to Mark in his early days of plant breeding and extraordinarily generous with his own material. We still have some very fine vireyas and camellias of his in our garden and his early, limited work with michelias (‘Mixed Up Miss’ and ‘Bubbles’ are his best known) laid the groundwork for Mark’s Fairy Magnolia series many years later. But we were less enamoured by his Magnolia ‘Starwars’ – until we made a magnolia trip to the UK, Italy and Switzerland back in the early 2000s.

Magnolia ‘Starwars’ bred by Os Blumhardt

At home, we have ‘Starwars’ planted on the roadside on our lower boundary in a row of other magnolias. It is pretty enough and puts on a good show but the flowers are a bit floppy and, to be brutal, it looks a bit dated compared to many of the magnolias we grow now. It was a different story in the UK and Europe. That was before any of Mark’s hybrids were available in that part of the world and we were tracking how his father’s varieties were performing. There is a huge difference in climate, growing conditions and light between here and over there and there is no guarantee that plants will look the same. We were a bit disappointed, particularly in ‘Iolanthe’ in those conditions.

‘Starwars’, on the other hand, was an absolute stand-out and it was being grown widely. Many of the international group we were travelling with assumed it was a Jury plant because it came from NZ. After we had seen several looking brilliant, Mark was moved to reply, “No, it isn’t one of ours but I wish it was.” I think it has earned its place in the Royal Collection as a proven performer.

Cordyline Red Fountain

This is not the first of our plants to grace the royal estates. The first we know of was when our Cordyline ‘Red Fountain’ was presented to the then Prince Charles in a ceremony at Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens – but not by us. While I have no doubt that the plant was a very fine specimen, we rather doubted that it had all the phytosanitary clearance and paperwork needed for plants to cross international borders. Mark quipped at the time that maybe we should alert Border Control that the royal entourage was carrying plant material. We have no way of knowing whether Royals are subject to the same regulations as travellers of lesser status or whether it even left the country. I hope it might be in his garden at Highgrove.

Next, there was a presentation of Mark’s Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ to the late Queen in 2010. We don’t know which royal garden that plant ended up in – maybe Windsor?

Then there was the ceremonial planting of another specimen of Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ by the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi with the then Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at their London residence of Clarence House in 2012.

That felt like a significant moment in history and to our great amusement, it is immortalised in a You Tube clip. That video shows it in a prime spot close to the residence. From memory, the magnolia they move over to look at was one planted by the Dalai Lama but I can’t remember what that variety was now – one of the species, maybe.

Magnolia Black Tulip

At the time, I wrote here: “We are honoured by this international recognition, though Mark would have preferred them to have planted his Magnolia Felix instead. It appears to be performing very well in the UK and the Royals’ gardens are large enough to take large flowered magnolias.”

We are very pleased that it will be ‘Felix Jury’ that will grace the Sandringham estate.

“The Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Coronation Collection is a collection of

plants and trees gifted to His Majesty, to mark his Coronation. As our Royal Patron

it represents our appreciation of how much his support and interest in our genera is

valued by our members from around the world.

It tells the story of the Rhododendron, Camellia and Magnolia Group’s one hundred

and seven-year history. The twenty-five plants and trees provide a historical and

horticultural link between the genera and the Royal Family and represents the

legacy of great gardens, the passion of private breeders and having good plants

in the garden. The specially chosen plants form a tapestry of our beautiful genera

internationally.

The best of the past and of the future, old and new. We hope that His Majesty enjoys

these plants and that they give him great satisfaction in the years ahead.”

From the official release announcing this gift.

All the reds

Magnolia 'Felix Jury'

Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’

August belongs to the red magnolias here. They start flowering in July for us but peak this month with September leaning more to the pinks, whites and yellows. While others may delight in one or two red magnolias, we get them en masse. For every named variety, there are many sister seedlings that will never be released but keep on growing and flowering each year. Magnolia trees just get bigger and better as the years go by so the annual display keeps on getting more spectacular.

Magnolia liliiflora 'Nigra'

Magnolia liliiflora ‘Nigra’

When Felix Jury, transferred the pollen of Magnolia ‘Lanarth’ onto Magnolia liliiflora ‘Nigra’ in the early 1960s, I doubt very much that he contemplated a significant breakthrough in the international world of magnolias which would bring fame – though not fortune. He just wanted to see if he could get to large red flowers. Lanarth (technically M. campbellii var. mollicomata ‘Lanarth’) has lovely flower form and at its best is a magnificent purple on a handsome tree. M. liliiflora ‘Nigra’ can have good red colour but with small flowers on a shrubby, spreading plant, it is not showy.

Magnolia 'Vulcan'

Magnolia ‘Vulcan’

The best of the progeny he named Magnolia ‘Vulcan’ and for the next decades, it stood proudly on its own as a major step along the way to red magnolias. Sure, it is not a pure red and the later season flowers fade out to a somewhat murky purple. There is always room for improvement but Felix laid the foundations for what is following now and he showed that a determined, self-taught, hobby plantsman at the bottom of the world could make a major contribution to the international magnolia scene.

Magnolia 'Black Tulip'

Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’

Magnolia 'Burgundy Star'

Magnolia ‘Burgundy Star’

It is perhaps not widely recognised in this country that New Zealand has led the way with red magnolias Our spring display is arguably the best in the world. For reasons yet to be determined, we get deeper and stronger colours here, certainly than in the UK and Europe. There, they are accustomed to white, pink and now yellow magnolias, but the impact of the red types that are now relatively common here never fails to stun international visitors who come in spring. Felix Jury paved the way with Vulcan. His youngest son, Mark – the man to whom I have been married for more decades than we like to tally – continued building on this foundation, as has fellow Taranaki magnolia breeder, Vance Hooper.

Mark’s quest is a pure red magnolia, losing the purple tones that dog the earlier hybrids. He is getting very close – not quite there yet, but close enough to think that it is achievable. Like his father before him, Mark prefers large flowers with solid colour both inside and outside the petals (technically tepals).

Magnolia 'Genie'

Magnolia ‘Genie’

Vance Hooper is going down a slightly different track and shows a liking for bicoloured flowers. In magnolias this often means a paler inner petal. He is also actively selecting for smaller growing trees which are floriferous over a long period of time, often with smaller flowers. His best known red cultivar to date is Magnolia Genie but he too has a whole range of red seedlings under observation and a number of other named varieties already released.

Felix named one purple – Apollo – and one into the red tones, Vulcan. Mark has named only three reds so far – Black Tulip, Burgundy Star and Felix Jury. Of these, Burgundy Star is arguably the reddest but it is the one he named for his father that brings us greatest pleasure. As a juvenile plant, it started off with OTT giant pink blooms but as it matured, the colour deepened and we now get enormous red flowers – though I admit they fade out to pink. This magnolia represents what Felix himself was trying to get to – a rich coloured, very large bloom of the Iolanthe-type.

It is a source of quiet satisfaction to us that Felix lived long enough to see his son achieve this outcome and it was for this reason that Mark named it for his father. We were most gratified to learn that it has been given an Award of Garden Merit by Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society.

I have never forgotten the customer who came in to buy a magnolia some years ago. She didn’t want a red one, was sick of seeing them – too common, she declared. No, she wanted a white one. I think I remained steadfastly polite but as our forest of colour blooms each August, I rememer her blissful ignorance.

First published in the August issue of New Zealand Gardener.

'Lanarth" is in full flower and looking particularly fine this week

‘Lanarth” is in full flower and looking particularly fine this week