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It looks to me that there are two magnolias in front of the White House.

What kind of magnolias are they?

enter image description here

The picture is actually a detail taken from Donald Trump's twitter account today's background image.

VividD
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    They might as well be Chinese Magnolias. I wonder if Trump paid tariffs for importing them ;-) – benn Apr 17 '18 at 20:24

2 Answers2

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Betty Magnolia

White House's History Magnolias

The Betty is my guess and it is a guess! Can't see the petal tips. And they just took one down last year I guess planted by Andrew Jackson and that one was Magnolia grandiflora which is white and evergreen. This will give you some ideas at least.

5 great magnolias to consider

stormy
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  • What does 'the Betty' mean? – Bamboo Apr 16 '18 at 21:46
  • The scientific nomenclature is; Magnolia X Betty. Seriously. The sites about magnolia were very...vague. – stormy Apr 16 '18 at 22:50
  • I like soulangeana very much...like you said the other are large shrubs. Thought I had addressed that one then got off into Magnolias of the White House histories...good grief! You would think we could get a plan of all the plants around that oh so important building! – stormy Apr 16 '18 at 22:57
  • So many newer varieties of Magnolia - but most of them don't get very big, maybe 10 feet or so. I'd have thought the one at the White House would be pretty old, so probably not a newer variety - can't tell the size from the pic in the question – Bamboo Apr 16 '18 at 23:11
  • The one that Andrew Jackson planted for his wife who died right after he got the office...was grandiflora. Couple hundred years old? They said they were removing a large part of it...whatever...these must be in the front of White House? Did you see the sheep? Makes me so nostalgic. Simpler times. – stormy Apr 17 '18 at 00:21
  • I just read yesterday they were removing M. grandiflora entirely - its completely rotten and the only thing holding it up were the ropes and supports. – Bamboo Apr 17 '18 at 09:00
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Most likely Magnolia soulangeana https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/s10622-magnolia-soulangeana-tulip-tree, but if it is, the flowers will eventually open out into saucer shapes. The other possibility is M. liliflora https://www.thespruce.com/growing-the-magnolia-iliflora-3269224 but this is less likely - it doesn't get as large as M. soulangeana.

Bamboo
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