Magnolia grandiflora 'Southern Charm' Teddy Bear® (Southern Magnolia)

Magnolia grandiflora 'Southern Charm,' also called Teddy Bear® southern magnolia, is an attractive, compact cultivar of Magnolia grandiflora that grows up to 15-20' tall with a straight trunk and a dense, pyramidal growth habit to only 8-12' wide. The Teddy Bear® cultivar's foliage is evergreen and the tree produces large summer flowers that are heavily scented, smelling of ginger or citrus. Blooms are creamy white in color and are quite large, typically reaching 6-8" across on these specimens. The tree's bowl-shaped blossoms open in the morning and close at night, playing host to a number of pollinators including a variety of bees and beetles. Come late summer or fall, flowers are replaced with cone-like seedpods that contain large, bright red seeds which attract birds.

With its dense, compact habit, 'Southern Charm' Teddy Bear® is a great pick for compact garden spaces and works great as a specimen tree or privacy screen plant with its dense, evergreen foliage all year long. This cultivar's attractive foliage is a smooth and shiny deep green above and a velvety tawny brown underneath. Magnolia grandiflora Teddy Bear® is not especially picky, requiring only medium to wet soils in full or partial sun, where it will grow to become an excellent small tree at maturity.