Painted base
Red-pink pigment concentrates in a clean low tepal zone resembling an upward flame.
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Family: Magnoliaceae · Pot: 23 cm · Height: approx. 80 cm
Magnolia ‘Sunrise’® opens cream-white cups painted with a rose-red flame at the base of each tepal. The contrast appears like first light rising through the flower, while soft fragrance adds quiet luxury. A compact upright crown keeps that detail near eye level and makes the plant well suited to a smaller garden. No two viewing angles reveal exactly the same flower.
This is a magnolia for those who prefer detail to noise: every flower rewards close inspection, yet the entire plant reads clearly at a distance. In a calm corner with morning light, cream and rose change continuously as the tepals open.
‘Lv Xing’ is distinguished by painted base and two further characters specific to this exact selection.
Red-pink pigment concentrates in a clean low tepal zone resembling an upward flame.
Most of the flower stays warm white so the basal marking reads without a harsh split.
The crown remains around 1.5–2.5 m, suited to close viewing and controlled urban space.
Why you will love it: it combines Chinese collector history, small scale and a flower painted so distinctly that it cannot be confused with another magnolia.
Place near a path or small seating area where morning light passes obliquely through the cream tepals and a dark green background clarifies the red basal zone.
Combine with Taxus baccata, Epimedium ‘Frohnleiten’ and Tulipa ‘Spring Green’ for dark background, low movement and cream-green repetition.
Sun to bright partial shade, sheltered from drying easterly wind. Morning light and a calm microclimate help the flowers open cleanly.
Water deeply during establishment and prolonged summer drought. Roots appreciate even moisture but not heavy, permanently saturated ground.
Woody growth is hardy, although open flowers may be damaged by late frost. A site away from frost pockets protects the display.
An ornamental tree, not a food product. Do not use bark, flowers or leaves for consumption without specialist botanical identification.
Sun to bright partial shade, sheltered from drying easterly wind. Morning light and a calm microclimate help the flowers open cleanly.
Water deeply during establishment and prolonged summer drought. Roots appreciate even moisture but not heavy, permanently saturated ground.
Provide deep, fertile, organic, freely drained soil, preferably slightly acid to neutral. Avoid compaction and digging over the fleshy surface roots.
Apply compost around the crown and a restrained feed in early spring. Excess nitrogen favours extension at the expense of wood ripening and flower buds.
Prune only when necessary, just after flowering: remove dead, crossing or weak branches. Large cuts heal slowly and distort the natural habit.
Leaf fall is normal. Keep roots buffered with organic mulch and protect only young potted plants from prolonged deep freezing.
In its first years the magnolia invests more in roots and a few sound axes than in rapid bulk. An undisturbed root zone and deep watering during drought build its framework securely.
Young ‘Lv Xing’ forms short ascending branches around a compact base. With age the crown rounds rather than stretching abruptly, and flower buds distribute across the outer outline.
At maturity it forms a compact multi-stemmed shrub or small tree 1.5–2.5 m high and 1.5–2.5 m wide, with an upright crown that gradually opens.
Several woody stems rise from the base to form a compact, upright crown that gradually opens with age.
In winter the clean multi-stemmed branch framework remains; leaflessness is a natural part of the cycle.
The cream-white plant with a red basal flare widely sold in Europe as ‘Sunrise’ originated at Xi’an Botanical Garden in Shaanxi Province, China. Its correct cultivar name is ‘Lv Xing’, and it has also been presented internationally under the trade designation Green Diamond.
The selection had entered cultivation before 2016 and is morphologically associated with Chinese Magnolia cylindrica, although exact parentage has not been published as a confirmed pedigree. Diagnostic features are its small upright crown, fragrant cream-white flowers and clear red-pink zone at the tepal base.
The name ‘Sunrise’ historically belongs to a different, little-known yellow-flowered magnolia hybrid raised by Dennis Ledvina. Applying it to ‘Lv Xing’ is therefore a commercial misidentification, not a synonym. Its journey from Xi’an into the European nursery trade explains why the same cream-white plant appears under different names in catalogues.
The cup is formed by six inner tepals around the centre of the flower. They overlap at first and may spread more flatly as the flower opens fully.
The reddish-pink marking is broadest at the base of the tepal and continues as a narrow line along its midvein. The combination of a triangular base and fine line leaves most of the tepal cream-white.
Six precise answers for ‘Lv Xing’, from its present scale to mature behaviour.
The listed approx. 80 cm is its height on arrival. Long-term placement must allow for a mature scale of 1.5–2.5 m by 1.5–2.5 m rather than today's young outline.
Place near a path or small seating area where morning light passes obliquely through the cream tepals and a dark green background clarifies the red basal zone.
Water deeply during establishment and prolonged summer drought. Roots appreciate even moisture but not heavy, permanently saturated ground.
Prune only when necessary, just after flowering: remove dead, crossing or weak branches. Large cuts heal slowly and distort the natural habit.
Because the cream-and-rose Chinese selection is correctly named ‘Lv Xing’. ‘Sunrise’ was applied commercially but historically belongs to a different yellow magnolia.
Cool spring weather and good light often strengthen anthocyanin. Warmth and flower age can soften the zone.