Season of Interest
For a short period in springtime this small tree is awash with the large white flowers. As with other spring-flowering magnolias ‘Albatross’ is deciduous.
Grown from seed collected at Trewithen in 1970 by the head gardener Michael Taylor, this specimen was given to Peter Borlase then head gardener at Lanhydrock. Planted out as a 1 m tall multi-stemmed plant in 1974 it was reduced to a single stem to concentrate its growth. ‘Albatross’ first flowered here in April 1981 and is a vigorous hybrid (Magnolia cylindrica x Magnolia x veitchii ‘Peter Veitch’).
Peter Borlase developed the magnolia collection at Lanhydrock and registered Magnolia ‘Albatross’, M sprengeri var. diva ‘Lanhydrock’ and M campbellii subsp mollicomata ‘Peter Borlase’ with the International Magnolia Society in 1992.