The former Rector of TU Dresden, Professor Hans Müller-Steinhagen, is patron of the “Tree sponsorships for the TU Dresden campus” initiative. He sponsored his first tree in March 2018 and has been a staunch supporter of the initiative since its inception. He regularly appealed for donations for tree sponsorships on the occasion of anniversaries or festivities. In December 2019, donations financed two tulip magnolias that were planted at the entrance of the Graduate Academy.

The tulip magnolia is a deciduous woody plant and reaches heights of up to 9 meters.

It is a crossbreed of the Chinese Yulan magnolia (Magnolia denudata) and the purple magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora), which also originates from East Asia. Today, the tulip magnolia is the most common magnolia species planted in Central Europe.

The flower buds already start growing in the fall. The tulip-shaped flowers appear before the budding of the leaves. They are the main reason for cultivating the shrub in parks and gardens. From March, they unfold their sumptuous white and purple flowers.

The flowers have no nectar, but produce plenty of pollen. They are not pollinated by bees or butterflies, but by beetles.