The tree will continue to sporadically produce white flowers that smell like lemons until August or September. In the fall it produces clusters of bright red seeds that would put the most ostentatious Christmas decoration to shame. As the tree matures it will produce more and more flowers and seed heads. In southern climates sweet bay may get as large as sixty feet tall. However, in the north it is a small tree between ten and twenty feet, perfect as a patio tree.
Sweet bay is a very adaptable plant.
Unlike most magnolias, it will grow in Wet, even Swampy Soil . It also tolerates Shade . Most magnolias need full sun to flower, but not sweet bay. Magnolias have very large leaves. Large leaves tend to lend a tropical feeling to the landscape.