Magnolia virginiana var. australis 'Perry Paige' Sweet Thing® (Dwarf Sweetbay Magnolia) Unity Grown

Magnolia virginiana Sweet Thing® is a dwarf cultivar of sweetbay magnolia noted for its small stature and increased hardiness over the straight species, with semi-evergreen to evergreen behavior. Growing to only around an eight foot height and spread, Sweet Thing® is an excellent flowering shrub to small tree with a lot of appeal in the garden and the versatility to be used almost anywhere.

From mid spring to mid summer, Magnolia virginiana produces creamy white flowers with a lemony fragrance atop its long, lustrous green leaves with silvery undersides. In the late summer and fall, pollinated blooms are replaced by alien-looking fruit pods with red seeds that are attractive to birds. With its smaller stature than larger sweetbays, Sweet Thing® makes an excellent border or foundation planting, and works well in rain gardens, forest plantings, and to attract a variety of important pollinators.