Sweet Thing™ Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana var. australis ‘Sweet Thing’) The Sweet Thing® is a very tough dwarf evergreen Sweetbay Magnolia. This cultivar was registered by George Dodson of Sleepy Hollow Nursery and Fernando “Campbell” Boyd III of Boyd Nursery Company on April 15, 2004. The original Sweet Thing® was discovered by George Dodson in a block of seedlings that were planted in 1990 at Sleepy Hollow Nursery. While Magnolia virginiana var. australis trees surrounding the original Sweet Thing® continued to grow, reaching heights in excess of 15 feet, the Sweet Thing® remained very dense and compact, only reaching a third of the size of its neighboring trees. After watching this unique little tree for years, Joe Fore, a landscaper from East Tennessee, was touring the farm in the late 1990’s and was shown what would soon become the Sweet Thing® magnolia. Because George wanted the new plant name to contain the words ‘sweet’ or ‘bay’— since the unnamed Magnolia was a Sweetbay Magnolia – Joe suggested the name ‘Sweet Thing’ and the name stuck! After several years of research, Campbell Boyd perfected the propagation of the new plant.* … The tree has cream-colored, lemon-scented flowers throughout the summer. It also has no known disease or pest problems. It is a strong growing, very tough and versatile plant.*
If Trees Could Sing…
Click here to see Taylor Hicks talk about one of his favorite trees, the Sweetbay Magnolia. The ‘Sweet Thing’ Magnolia is a cultivar of the Sweetbay. Video courtesy of The Nature Conservancy and Taylor Hicks.
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Photos taken at Old Town June 2021.
Photos taken at Old Town June 2022.
*Information comes from the Boyd Nursery Company