Q: I noticed last week that my flowering magnolia has huge buds on it. Will it have black blooms due to the cold? Jimmy W. Mize, email

A: Flowering magnolias, including star magnolia and saucer magnolia, are extremely cold tolerant. They grow in parts of the country where winter temperatures go below zero so they do fine in a Georgia winter. The Achilles heel of these beautiful small trees is the fact that they can be triggered into bloom by a week of warm weather in February. Although the buds are cold tolerant, the flowers are not. I think your magnolia blooms will be fine, as long as February weather cooperates.