MICHELIA champaca (Golden Champa)

Golden Champa (Magnolia champaca, long sold as Michelia champaca) is grown for its perfume. The creamy yellow to orange flowers are small, but the fragrance carries across a garden on a warm evening and repeats through the warmer months. The tree settles at around 10m tall and 5m wide: evergreen, fast growing and dense enough to screen a boundary.

Why you'll love it

• Fragrance that travels. Few trees scent a whole garden, and this one does it over a long season.
• Evergreen screening. Glossy foliage all year blocks a neighbouring upper storey in winter as well as summer.
• Fast growing. It puts on real height quickly in a warm garden, which matters when the job is privacy.
• Wind and humidity tolerant. It handles humid summers and sea breezes without leaf burn or fungal trouble.

Where it works best

Feature planting. Plant it where the scent reaches people: beside the front path, or within range of a bedroom window.

Shade tree. The 5m canopy shades a courtyard without swallowing an average backyard. Allow at least 4m from the house, clear of paving and services.

Screening and privacy. In a row, space trees 4m to 5m apart so each canopy reaches full width while the row closes above fence height.

Growing Golden Champa in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, sheltered from cold winds. It suits tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens. It is frost tender, so cool temperate and hard frosting inland districts are wrong for it, and young trees are the most vulnerable.

Soil. Deep, rich, slightly acidic and free draining. Dig compost through a wide area rather than a narrow hole, and mulch 75mm deep to the canopy edge, clear of the trunk. It will not tolerate waterlogging.

Water and feed. Water deeply through the first two years and in any dry spell after, since flowering drops away on a water stressed tree. Feed a complete fertiliser in early spring and midsummer.

Pruning. Very little. Shape the young tree to a single leader and lift the lower branches only for clearance. Prune after the main flush of flowers.

What to expect when it arrives

This is an ex ground tree, not a potted plant. It was grown in the field and lifted with a root ball, so what arrives is a large specimen with years of growth behind it. Ex ground stock is dug in the cooler months, root pruned and moved on specialist transport, and advanced and large stock is freighted at cost.

Plan for it before it lands: hole prepared, machine access sorted, someone on site to receive it. The canopy is usually reduced at lifting, so the tree looks lean on arrival, then rebuilds over a season of deep, regular watering. Delivered Australia wide, and covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Browse the ex ground tree range
• How to transplant a large tree successfully
• Compare fragrant plants and trees
• Advanced trees for immediate height

Common questions

What does ex ground actually mean?

The tree was grown in the ground on a farm and lifted with its root ball. You get a much larger specimen for the money, but it needs careful handling, a prepared site and a season of attentive watering to re-establish.

Will it grow in Melbourne or Adelaide?

It is frost tender and suited to tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens. In cold districts it is not a sound investment at this size.

How strong is the fragrance?

Strong enough to scent a garden on a still, warm evening. The flowers themselves are modest, so buy it for the perfume rather than the display.