FOR stunning displays of early blooms you can’t get better than early flowering magnolias. Appearing just before the leaves anytime now, flowers are very showy and can be fragrant depending on variety.

And, as with the best garden plants, magnolias offer beauty at other times too with elegant growth habits, attractive buds and even ornamental fruit (inedible).

If you’d like to bring one of these ‘star performers’ into your garden then the stylish magnolia stellata makes a great first choice. This deciduous shrub has a compact, bushy habit so it’s ideal in quite small spaces. It flowers profusely in early to mid-spring, producing big (12cm across) tough yet delicate-looking flowers which are sometimes pure white, sometimes faintly pink-flushed.

The radial pattern of the petals gives the star-like effect. A bigger tree producing similar shaped, but pale lilac pink flowers is magnolia X loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’. This is another great choice, flowering profusely and reaching 8m at maturity.

Stars aren’t the only flowers that these plants can offer, magnolias can also deliver rich, goblet shaped blooms. Take, for example, varieties of magnolia Soulangeana. ‘Rustica Rubra’ bears dark purple flowers (milky-white on the insides) in mid to late spring, before the leaves appear and with the young leaves.

The different varieties of Soulangeana achieve a height and spread at maturity of approximately six metres. Magnolia ‘Susan’ is another to look out for if big, fragrant, goblet-shaped flowers are what you want.

A compact, upright, deciduous shrub, ‘Susan’ is ideal where space is relatively limited. It achieves an approximate height and spread at maturity of four metres and three metres respectively.

All the magnolias mentioned are fully hardy. They will perform best if planted in moist, humus rich, well drained soil. They are happiest if soil pH is neutral to acid. It’s important that they have shelter from strong winds, but they’re equally happy in sun or partial shade.

Only limited maintenance is necessary, another plus point for today’s busy gardeners. In late winter remove any shoots that affect the visual appeal of the plant or appear dead or damaged to maintain a healthy framework.

The ‘premiere performance’ for these stars is spring, but they offer value right through the year. Magnolias are among those wonderful plants that give so much and ask so little in return.