Thanks for posting. I was just in Washington DC this week for the cherry blossom festival, and while there saw many big, gorgeous magnolias that I wished I could grow. It would be nice if you posted in future years to let us know how they do. This was a relatively good winter for plants, because we had a lot of snow cover to stop the heaving.

Are you normally considered zone 5 or 6?

Cool Gerry! I remember a thread about this awhile ago. It is very nice to hear of your success.
Remy

My zone is 6.
I am exactly 1.5 mile from Lake Erie that moderates temperatures.Our zone is similar to that of NE Ohio, where I have read of accounts of fellow GW gardeners growing Southern Magnolia cultivars 'Edith Bogue' & 'Brackens Brown Beauty'. I also have cultivars 'Pocano' and '-24 Below',along with the preceding two cultivars. According to information I have read, the latter two cultivars are as hardy if not hardier than 'Edith Bogue'.
An excellent reading source is: Palms won't grow here and other myths warm climate plants for cooler areas. It is written by Dr. David A. Francko.
An excellent source and source of inspiration is right here in Garden Web, but you will have to do searches using Edith Bogue and other names in order to find the information. The information is in all different forums.

Update - July 1, 2008

I am trialing some of the hardier Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) cultivars in my Hamburg NY, yard.
Here are the results as of July 1, 2008:

1) Unnamed clone from Appalachian Gardens - Regrowth is fair, however the tree is planted near a large Norway Maple that is slated to be removed this summmer. I am quite sure there is root competition from the Norway Maple...

2) 'Pocano' - Planted late April 2007. No tip dieback. Regrowth is extremely vigorus and tree looks very healthy. Has dropped some leaves, but has replaced them.

3) 'Edith Bogue' - Planted late April 2007. leaves look same as last fall, no tip dieback.Bought from Forest Farm Nursery and is grown from a cutting. Extremely healthy and vigorus growth and has dropped very few leaves from last year.

4) 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' - Planted late April 2007. Leaves look same as last fall. Has dropped few, if any leaves! Later to start into growth, however it is putting on healthy growth. was forming a flower bud, that I removed as the tree may redirect it's energy into growth.

5) '- 24 Below' - Planted in April 2008. This tree is growing quite good in it's first year in the ground.

Anyone have any idea what kind of magnolia I saw on this year's garden walk in Buffalo? It was maybe 15' tall and 12-14 wide, with pink blooms scattered about its large glossy leaves. Definitely a southern magnolia. I believe it was on Cary or Rabin, in a side yard. And yes, it had blooms now, and a neighbor confirmed it was a magnolia. I'm not familiar enough with southerns to know what it was.

Brief winter update on my Magnolias.

Our winter, especially January, has been cold. According to the January 27 edition of the Buffalo News, this January is the coldest since January 1977 - the year of the blizzard!
This spring will provide me with the results of the best testing temperature - wise for my trees. The lowest temps that we have had are not the actual lowest recorded temps for these Southern Magnolia Cultivars.

A brief look at all Magnolias show no damage at this point, the true test will be when the growing season begins. So far , so good...

So, inquiring minds want to know, how cold is cold? The lowest we've been this year is -10°F, which rates a yawn on the cold meter. Supposedly it will kill wooly adelgid larvae.

It is also cold enough to freeze bubbles, which is actually quite cool.

"So, inquiring minds want to know, how cold is cold?"

~ For us, around upper 20 -low 30 is our norm as I am 1.5 mile from Lake Erie. The close proximity to the lake plus our cloud cover provides protection from heat loss that would take place without the cloud cover.

"Supposedly it will kill wooly adelgid larvae"
~ That would be a good thing!

Update as of 2/13/2009:
All Magnolia grandiflora cultivars are looking good at this point. Spring or rather when they begin growing will be the true test! I am confident by examining each tree that they will grow good this year. I shall update at that time...

March 9, 2009 - Update

I checked all magnolias - all except for Edith Bogue have burn on their leaves. The burn is not severe, however the winter has been colder and windier than normal. My magnolias normally lose leaves in the spring when new growth begins so I am not too concerned with springtime leaf dropping.
The trees have burlap screens on the side where the Sun would normally shine on them in the afternoon and the burlap is on the side that the winds normally come from.

I gently "wiggled" random buds on all Magnolias. A stiff rigid bud indicates winter kill and possible die back. All buds that I tested were flexible indicating that they survived to this point. I have done this last year so I am confident that they have survived the worst of this winter.

I live in zone 5b in eastern NY State and have a Magnolia growing in my front yard for 20 year. I no longer know its latin name, possibly is not a "Southern" Magnolia.

My Magnolia is probably 25 ft wide and 20 ft tall. It loses all leaves in fall and grows them back after bloom. Soon it will be ablaze with large (hand-size) pinkish blossoms. There are several large and very old Magnolias in my area, all very strong bloomers. They were already very big in 1970.
I seem to remember that my Magnolia had trouble blooming when winter temperature reached down to -30F, but has no problem with -20F.

Good Luck!