Source: Frelinghuysen Arboretum (NJ) annual plant sale
Size shipped: #5 pot (measured 3')
Planted: In ground, May 2021
First flowering: June 2021
(This plant stayed behind when I moved in 2021; therefore, the following text will receive no further updates.)
Because a 5-gallon southern magnolia for only $40 is an amazing deal I simply can't pass up, even without any specific plan for where to put it.
Unfortunately, the one bloom that BBB graced us with in June 2021 never opened up quite uniformly enough to make a good photo, and it was only effective for about two days -- after which the petals suddenly went brown and dropped (clearly not drought stress, because all the new shoots were doing fine). I'm hoping it was just the anomalously hot weather of those days (16°F above normals!) that did it and that most years won't have this problem. But it did smell as lemony as advertised, so there's that.