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Botanical Name: Magnolia ‘Yellow Bird’
Common Name: Yellow Bird Magnolia
Location: Kendal
Notable Feature: This intense, deep yellow-flowered hybrid was selected for its bloom color as well as its consistency of bloom. Developed in 1967 by Doris Stone, a plant breeder at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and introduced in 1981.
Habit: A small to medium-sized, deciduous tree, upright, conical to pyramidal in form and reaching 20 to 40’ tall and 10 to 25’ wide. Hardy in Zones 4-8.
Foliage: Dark green and elliptic in shape.
Flower: Daffodil-yellow with a slight greenish tinge at the base of the outer tepals. The 6 erect, petal-like tepals are 3 to 3 ½” long and 2” wide. Tulip-shaped blooms are held upright on the branches, appear as the leaves emerge, and continue to be effective for two to three weeks. Supposedly the most intense, deep yellow-flowered magnolia yet to be produced.
Interesting Fact: 'Yellow Bird' has a substantial pedigree, descending from a cross between the American native Cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata) and the Chinese Lily Magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora). It was then recrossed as a M. ×brooklynensis 'Evamaria' with the Yellow Cucumbertree (M. acuminata var. subcordata) which gave it its larger and deeper yellow flowers.