Just as its name suggests, this tree is quite a Little Gem' with all the wonderful qualities you'd want from a magnolia and more! Also known as the dwarf southern magnolia tree, the Little Gem Magnolia tree is a beautiful evergreen tree that boasts cool shade and fragrant flowers all summer long. The Magnolia grandiflora Little Gem tree features smaller dark green foliage and a very compact narrow form and grows much slower than its other Magnolia relatives. The evergreen leaves of this southern tree are leathery with a deep glossy green color on top and fuzzy, rusty-brown undersides. Little Gem magnolia trees produce large, fragrant, creamy white, saucer shaped flowers that are 4-6 inches wide. Their beautiful and creamy white flowers bloom in the early spring to early summer growing season. These hardy shade trees have a bronze brown bark all year long that looks nice paired with the glossy leaves. The white fragrant flowers on the Little Gem Magnolia Tree will give way to spherical, cone-like fruiting clusters that mature in the late summer to early fall months of the year. They release individual rose-red coated seeds suspended on slender threads at maturity. These seeds are food sources for many types of wildlife including birds, squirrels, and deer.