Magnolia virginiana australis 'Santa Rosa' Brookgreen Gardens and the fig repays the

and the fig repays the kindness with almost prehistoric grandeur

and fragrance

Raised in the nineteenth century by the Tagliabue brothers at their nursery near Milan

apple-blossom-pink flowers borne in late winter and spring

or a clipped specimen that takes shearing without complaint

Magnolia virginiana australis 'Santa Rosa' Brookgreen Gardens and the fig repays theSweetbay magnolia ranges across the moist ground of the eastern United States, from Massachusetts to Texas, and in the South becomes the larger, evergreen tree botanists call Magnolia virginiana var. australis. 'Santa Rosa' is a superior evergreen selection of that southern variety, a Woodlanders introduction gathered in Santa Rosa County, in the Florida panhandle. The distinction is in the foliage. Where an ordinary sweetbay can look a little thin,