“Magnolias are notoriously fragile”
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We live in Chicago, and we recently took out several Cherry Blossoms (we re-arranged our property), which my wife loved. In any event, we plan on putting in more trees and our landscaper is telling us we want Magnolia’s instead. It sounds like you know a bit about trees, given our climate is one better than the other?
Bubba: there are several magnolia varieties that handle the cold fairly well, and do look pretty spectacular in the spring. I couldn’t say which one specifically works better than another, unfortunately. My memory of magnolias being fragile hails all the way back to elementary school where there was a magnolia on the grounds, which we were told we couldn’t climb in because the branches were too likely to break off. I had one of the southern varieties in my yard when I lived in TX, and while the flowers look incredible, they have no scent, which to me lessened their value. You might find better value putting in some dwarf fruit trees, which will not only give you the flowers (and they smell very nice), but will also (eventually) produce edible fruit if maintained.
Mairdie: I think the lack of magnolias in the Northeast is due more to them being just another early-blooming floral tree, so they don’t really get much attention. There are (as noted above) several cold-hardy versions, but a lot of folks only know of the southern variety and probably don’t think they’ll even grow in the north. When the competition includes forsythia, tulip trees, rhododendrons, dogwoods, and all the flowering fruit trees, magnolias are just one more decorative choice.