Special offers on mimosa and ‘black’ magnolia trees

Black Beauty is an unusual magnolia and one of the darkest on the market Picture: Visions BV, Netherlands (Image: © Visions BV, Netherlands / Jaap Westland | Exclusivity Elburg Media)

Today Enjoy Gardening More's special offers are two tree varieties which will bring striking spring colour to your garden.

First is the flowering mimosa tree. Priced at only £9.99 for a 2lt potted bush of 30cms, the canary-yellow blooms of this plant will become a spectacular focal point in your outdoor space from January to April year after year.

The mimosa grows to approximately 3m by 1.5m and is a great choice for a large container, offering hundreds of bobbly yellow flowers which smother the branches in a lemon haze, almost hiding the stunning grey-green filigree foliage.

The eye-catching, delicate pom-poms not only look a picture but carry a heavenly fragrance and provide a valuable nectar source for friendly garden insects that emerge in milder weather.

Widely seen across southern Europe, this variety will thrive outdoors in most of the UK, especially if grown against a warm, sunny wall, and makes a great plant for conservatories or sunny corners of a room indoors in regions prone to hard frost.

If you're after something a bit more unusual how about the Black Beauty magnolia, currently on offer at £14.99 for a bare rooted tree, ready to plant out?

This is one of the darkest varieties of magnolia you can plant and is slow-growing making it an ideal specimen for smaller gardens and containers.

Black Beauty is a new introduction from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens breeding program and not widely sold.

Blooming from late spring into early summer, the tree avoids many damaging late frosts, so manages to keep its flowers pristine when other magnolias do not. The sumptuous dark purple, almost black, tulip-shaped blooms open to reveal a contrasting creamy white interior and a sublime perfume.

Easy to grow, this fully winter-hardy magnolia makes an eye-catching focal point and is super-easy to look afte, with the advantage of being extremely hardy, surviving below -30°C!