Think big-leafed magnolia

Here's a TPP TIP for avid gardeners and magnolia aficionados.  Here's a link to a nursery in NJ where you can purchase a Magnolia ashei (Ashe's magnolia), a smallish statured big-leafed magnolia.  TPP has two big-leafed magnolias, M. tripetala and M. ashei.  Their large leaves, often 2 feet long, clustered in whorls at the end of branches is so tropical looking, so different from our native vegetation that they really stand our even when not in flower. M. tripetala and M. macrophylla both seem quite hardy here in zone 5.  Ashe's magnolia is endemic to the Florida panhandle, but it isn't so limited in range due to a lack of cold-hardiness.  TPP's survived a low temperature very close to 0 F last winter, and it's rated as hardy to zone 6.  It has large flowers and flowers at a small size/young age.  TPP bought his as a seedling from a native plant nursery in Tallahassee for $10, but it was just a 12" tall, unbranched whip. The plants for sale at this site are much bigger.  Hmm, where to plant another one?