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Botanical Name: Magnolia ‘Sunburst’
Common Name: Sunburst Magnolia
Campus: Kendal
Notable Feature: A fast growing magnolia with deep canary yellow flowers and narrow tepals that open just as the foliage starts to unfurl, making the tree appear as if it is covered in glowing yellow candles.
Habit: A deciduous tree with a distinctive, pyramidal and upright habit reaching about 30’ tall with a spread of 20’ at maturity. It has a relatively fast growth rate and its coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage. Hardy in Zones 5-7.
Foliage: The deciduous, heavily textured, dark green foliage appears throughout the summer. Newly emerging leaves carry a bronze-purple cast and the large, pointy leaves turn coppery bronze in fall.
Flower: Stunning, fragrant, deep canary yellow, cup-shaped flowers are 6” in diameter and perch atop the branches in mid-spring. The 6, narrow, petal-like tepals are 5” high, have a blush of pink at their base, and open just as the foliage starts to emerge.
Fruit: Fruits are showy, pink pods displayed in early fall.
Interesting Fact: ‘Sunburst’ is a cross between Magnolia ×brooklynensis ‘Woodsman’ and M. ‘Gold Star’, created by magnolia hybridizer, August Kehr. Because of its ‘Gold Star’ parentage, there is a separation between each tepal creating a floral show that is more interesting than seen in other yellow magnolias.