Sweetbay MagnoliaGrown for its creamy white, lemon scented flowers in May and June and attractive silvery backs of its leaves. Leaves drop in late fall and reappear in early spring. Unlike Southern magnolias, Sweetbays thrive in damp to even wet, soggy soil as well as ordinary garden soil. Garden designer, Dabney Peeples, has planted a beautiful grouping of 3 or 4 Sweetbays in front of an otherwise plain wall of his home.