Jae SK, this thread discusses a completely different species of Magnolia called Magnolia coco which is a tropical/warm subtropical Magnolia nowhere near as cold hardy as the Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora. Apparently though, Pat McCracken had successfully crossed M. coco with M. grandiflora and produced a hybrid. I have no idea if this hybrid is still around or not or what it's characteristics are. As M. grandiflora has a high chromosome count of 2n=6x=114 and M. coco only has a chromosome count of 2n=2x=38 there's a good chance the hybrid shows little obvious evidence of it's M. coco parent and looks more like an odd M. grandiflora than anything else. And, some got confused about another completely different Magnolia with a cultivar incorrectly named(in terms of accepted standards) of "Coco". That though only appears to be commonly available in Australia. If you want a good cold hardy, slower growing(so it stays smaller longer) cultivar of M. grandiflora then 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' is a good one especially if you like the brown indumentum on the undersides of the leaves (the brown fuzz!). If you like a longer flowering period and live somewhere warmer, then 'Little Gem' may be the one you want. You can grow 'Little Gem' just about everywhere you can grow 'Bracken's Brown Beauty', but 'Little Gem' won't reliably flower any longer and may have late growth or late flowering (if it does happen) killed by winter cold in colder areas where you can grow M. grandiflora. If you really like the orange-brown indumentum then M. grandiflora 'Kay Parris' may be for you. It will grow a little bit faster than the other 2 so will get a little bigger a little quicker, but it's just as winter hardy as 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' in my experience.

Island, I also have this cultivar. I may be chopping it down this year! I have about a half dozen cultivars of grandiflora--this one is quite different from any of the others. It grows maybe twice as fast if not more than the others It branches densely, even to ground level Green on the underside (as you noted) Lighter green leaves Leaf shape is almost avocado-like Mine does not burn as harshly has yours, but it burns more than the others Biggest problem are its poor tolerance for any snow or ice, while the others look fine. My poor guy suffered collateral damage from other downed trees in the hurricane and just took another hit. It even got attacked by deer this past November. I have always identified it as 'Green Giant'. Sure it would try to recoup but hate seeing the damage.

My message was cut off ( I closed it while posting) Alex I have 2 bradford pears in my front yard and 2 in my backyard. They are a poor choice. They never get tall and only get wide. They are prone too damage from snow and wind and they drop messy fruit. The only thing good I found about them is that they can take topping on a regular basis. Most trees will die from it. I chop the top of my trees every few year. They look like big ficus trees. The other thing good about them is that they keep their leaves until they get frosted . My tree still has leaves on it after all other trees dropped theirs. The builders plant them because they are the cheapest tree there is.

I do think so! Techinically there is a tropicalsque fourm on this site, but its not very active. But anyways heres the list of what Im growing outside year round thats considered tropical-ish Palms first... windmill palms (2 have survived 1 winter in the ground and one is newly planted in shade) sabal minor (survived 1 year in the ground and growing about 2-4 new leaves a year pindo palm (survivied 1 year in the ground and still has yet to push out a full new leaf, but no winter damage or spear pull) Medditeranean fan palm (Newly planted this spring. It already has a pup growing and is a pretty good grower) Livingstonia chinesis (Newly planted this spring. Slow growth but it has pushed 1 full leaf this spring) Sabal Domingensis (Newly planted this spring as well. Its pretty large but not very cold tolerant so we shall see) I did want to try a hardy bamboo palm but it got spear pull so now I will have to replace it with another exotic and somewhat cold tolerant palm for shade (since thats the spot I want to fill) So now onto the non-palm tropicals Camellia (at least 10 years in the ground. Its a slow grower but has never recieved protection, is not a super cold tolerant cultivator, and blooms every year (some years better than others). It is a slow growers and does get burned leaves some years. Spanish moss (only tried a little pieve of it on my tree this past winter and at least half surivived fine). Cast Iron plant (just planted a week ago, some in pots, some in the ground. We shall see how they do!) Easter lily (I left the bulbs on the deck all winter long exposed to the cold and they were still fine when spring came. I think some of it rotted when I planted it in the ground but it has plenty of offspring comming up. Also its definitely an easter lily and not some other type of lily.) Sago palm (It does go inside from mid december to early march, but its the last potted plant to go in so I think it deserves to be on my list. It handles frost with no problems at all). Frost proof gardenia (First year in the ground. Its not in the greatest spot but I think it has blooms comming up already so Its a strong plant. My tropical gardenia also is blooming but it goes inside in the winter) Cordyline australis (Kind of marginal here but they always do fine in the unheated garage. They usually are alrigt outside too if kept away from moisture. I have seen some survive 2 or 3 winters in a row and get pretty tall before dieing from a cold year). Eastern prickly pear (Not very tropical but it is rarer here even though it is native to the area. It survived in a pot evern though some of the pads didnt have roots yet. Now they all have firm roots and some have flower buds and at the least new pads). Thats about It I can think of off the top of my head. I have seen many other subtropical plants around the area and many of them are thriving (and most are very reliable in a zone 7). I plan on trying even more things out in the future but most of my plants are tropical and in pots. Good luck!