Question
Hi.  I have a magnolia tree I purchased about 10 years ago that was sold to me as a yellow magnolia by a major well known nursery.  It bloomed yellow blooms, very large soft colored butter colored blossoms, for several years.  Last year, for the first time, it bloomed early and showed a few blossoms that appeared to be star magnolia blossoms.  I didn't know what to think of it until a few weeks later, when it re-bloomed yellow like always, but lesser blossoms that previously. This year, we got a full show of white star magnolia blossoms right at Easter ( looked like bows tied on the tips of the branches), then it re-bloomed this week with a few sporadic yellow blooms, the size of two fists together, but not many.  So, now I do not know what I have or what to expect.  I have never seen a tree bloom twice like this, nor have I ever seen two kinds of blossoms from the same plant.  Can you shed any light on this subject?  The yellow blossoms are like the southern pink magnolia, large lobed petals and cupped, the star are typical star magnolia blooms, white as can be and long petals that open way out almost flat.

Answer
Most of the yellow magnolias are crosses between magnolia species with yellow flowers and ones with whiter flowers. Why it is diverting back to the white I do not understand. One of these is  Magnolia 慓old Star??(-30oF, USDA Zones 4-9) A cross of M. acuminata var. subcordata 慚iss Honeybee?x M. stellata. Light, creamy yellow flowers with 14 narrow tepals like it抯 star flowered parent open in late March or early April before the foliage. Stella is the Star magnolia. Sorry I do not have an answer