To eliminate their reservations, all one needs to do is look at a Sweetbay Magnolia in the summer during a light breeze. The dark green shiny foliage is silvery white underneath.

We planted a deer-resistant sweetbay magnolia for a client this fall, and a buck snapped the trunk with its antlers. My client now has a fenced yard.

In late summer, the sweetbay magnolia serves as a host plant for the tiger swallowtail caterpillars. As the conelike fruits ripen from July to October, they turn a dull red to brownish red at full ...

The Sweetbay Magnolia is a smaller magnolia variety, growing 10 to 20 feet high and as wide. The Sweetbay will often develop multiple trunks decorated with glossy green leaves.

Sweet bay blooms in May and June, and the four- inch diameter flowers are strongly fragrant.