Some of you may remember that I posted photos of a Magnolia 'Little Gem' that lost its leader in an ice storm last December. I received excellent advice on training a new leader (thanks!) and thought I'd share some "after and before" photos.
I've been tightening the splint every few months, but haven't taken it off. I suppose I should at least see whether the leader stays upright without it.
If anyone has pruning suggestions to make the Magnolia more balanced-looking, please chime in.
wow, Muddy, what a difference! You are very patient to do all that to make the tree look good again! :-) Me, I probably would have ended up just chopping it all down in frustration! :-D Looks great!
Thanks, CatMint! It really wasn't difficult to do; balancing on a stepladder in freezing weather was the hardest part.
Looks really nice. I don't think I'd be in a hurry to take the splint off,
though be sure you're not girdling the leader with the ties.
Without the splint, it might collapse under the weight of the first wet snow
and you'll be back to square one.
Nice job, Muddy1. You are on the track back to proper parenting...
Thanks! I'm feeling less like a neglectful parent.
I'll keep adjusting the ties so they don't create dents in the trunk.
I was planning to prune some of the longer branches this year so that they could stand up to the snow and ice better, but I couldn't figure out where to make the cuts. I think I'll shorten the overly long and heavy branches so that Mother Nature doesn't "prune" them!
Wow Muddy, I can't believe how well it's recovered in just a few months! I think I saw it in May and it certainly didn't look that good.
I'm with Catmint. I would have chopped it down and planted another one. :)
It's amazing what Holly Tone and lots of water can do to a shrub!
Great job Muddy! Prune the longer branches at a leaf node or stem union, give it an angle cut. I'm with Wee, I'd take the brace off in the spring. She's a beauty again!
Thanks, Mipii. Do you think it's too late to prune it this year?
If you prune this year, you may sacrifice some blooms in the spring. I would make the sacrifice for the form if I were you, 'cause the bloom season after that will produce even more and also give your tree a more balanced/pleasing form.
Thanks. I want the branches to be better able to withstand ice and snow, so I'll prune back the "end heavy", floppy ones.
Sure...any old time!
I think it's a lovely tree as it is, though I understand the concern about snow loads. Since i'm also growing a few m. grandiflora cultivars (most closely related of mine is Kay Parris which is a bit more columnar), I wonder about other methods to protect from snow and cold. Since you are so far south of me, I suppose the pruning is an easier solution. I have mine staked as a preventive measure, and don't intend to stop it until they are too tall.
I am putting a fence and burlap around the cultivar, Teddy Bear hoping that will help it to withstand the snow and ice. Although it is in a protected spot, one suffered so much winter burn, I have replaced it this year, but the nursery plant wasn't even that wonderfully strong. I treat it well with water mulch and nutrients. If this one fails, I'll conclude it can't grow here. Any other thoughts?
RosemaryK:
Hope springs eternal!
I'm sure you realize that there is quite a bit of variation in the proven hardiness of various selections of Magnolia grandiflora. 'Teddy Bear' does not have a demonstrated track record for survival at the normal range of temperatures that you are going to experience in zone 6a, much less any tolerance for snowloads or continuous drying winds from winter's dessicating conditions.
You plan to do all the things at a microclimate level that might have a protective value. Short of creating an orangerie like many European royalty attempted back during the days of great exploration and introduction, I wonder if the expended effort wouldn't be equaled by simply treating some of these choice but tender plants as annuals - and just getting a new one every year.
Treating a m. grandiflora as an annual? That's a good one, but I believe you are right, VV. Maybe the next one should be a Brackens, since they do grow a fair number of them around here, but maybe a banana plant, or a palm while I'm at it. I wanted something evergreen or the Ashe's magnolia in a pot would be pressed into service there, and the m virginiana Ohio Belle and m. g. Kay Parris are thriving these past four years even farther from the house, so it seemed right to stay with the magnolia collection. Exposure faces south. And we know just where we'd build the conservatory...
Surprisingly, my 'Little Gem' didn't suffer much winter burn even though it is in a less-than-ideal location: fully exposed to the north wind and winter sun. It dropped a number of brown leaves in the spring, but still looked okay and quickly replaced those leaves with new growth.
Rosemary, they might not be as tall as you have in mind, but have you considered Ilex glabra or Myrica pennsylvanica? My M. pennsylvanica also fared very well this winter even though they were equally exposed to winter wind and sun. I am really happy with these shrubs: they are pest- and disease-free, don't need pruning and kept most of their leaves this past winter.
My only gripe is that they haven't bloomed even though they're about 4' tall.
I don't have I. glabra, but I remember reading that it is one of the most reliably evergreen shrubs for cold climates. Here's a link about it with a line I just love: "If inkberry had come from Japan, people would rave about it.". http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/826.pdf
Wee, you'll be glad to hear I re-did the ties holding the tree to the stake. They're now threaded through pieces of hose and are looser so that the trunk has room to expand.
This message was edited Aug 24, 2014 7:45 PM
So true that our native plants don't get the attention they deserve. I do have I. glabra and myrica but located in the windy, colder sections of my yard where they can flourish. You are so right about them, and I want to try several more cultivars of inkberry to try for myself to see which ones can really stay compact and full at the bases. I appreciate your good sense, Muddy--thanks for the Arnold arboretum article.
Oh, Muddy, I agree!
I didn't realize how fortunate I was when a landscaper put in 14 myrica pennsylvanica in my former home as a foundation shrub - seven on each side. Yes, I had to acidity them in our high alkaline soil but they provided complete privacy and shade on the western front of our house. If there was a loss, they replaced themselves before we realized there was a loss. We could grow them to great height or cut them back. Others who had them reduced them in size but we said, grow baby grow! And I grew suckering plants like anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' and salvia verticillata 'White Rain' in front of them and they fought to a draw. Not to mention that the birds loved the berries, and we had sufficient numbers so that pollination was a snap. And they never look bad.
Not flashy, but it is described as a "handsome" shrub, and I agree. Under the same circumstances I would ask for them, having experienced how wonderful they are. I read in Michael Dirr's book really likes the plant, and says that a really useful addition might be dwarf cultivar. When people said that to me, I would suggest ilex glabra!
Donna's combo would certainly hide an air conditioner at the foundation!
I love that combination of plants, Donna!
It's interesting that you mentioned them as foundation shrubs. I'm planning to replace the shrubs currently flanking my front door with ones that a) look nicer than the mis-matched, overgrown shrubs that are there now and 2) will look nice with minimal pruning.
I'm a little hesitant about planting berry-producing shrubs because I have visions of smashed berries on the stoop and stains on floors. Have you had any problems like that?
Oh, never! Bayberries are actually slightly waxy. They don't smoosh. And the birds completely strip them of berries, which is amazing, because with 14 of them, we had thousands of berries.
Here is the combo at ground level. Bayberry branches, the lovely shiny leaves of the anemones before bloom, the salvia and a bonus, digitalis 'Husker Red'. Looked great all season, and required no maintenance or extra water once established. Looked great all season, because all the the plants but the digitalis fought to a draw, and the'Husker Red' is one tough plant. PERFECT for areas that will be seen by passers by all year round, but also different and colorful, and the only plant that needed a little help was the bayberry, because of our soil.
Bayberry is a tough customer. I planted three of them a couple of years ago in a mixed border, and they survided last winter with only slight damage. I did some minor pruning and you'd never know there was any dieback. Like lavender and sweetfern, this is a plant that beckons you to run your hands through its foliage.
My shrubs have been in the ground for 2 winters and are 5-6' tall and very healthy-looking. They get full sun. I fertilize them with Holly Tone and water when necessary. They have not bloomed since I've had them, however.
Any theories as to why they might not be blooming?
This message was edited Aug 26, 2014 6:36 PM
Virginia is not for lovers?
Oh Pseudo! LOL!!
By the way, seriously, I've been to Vienna, Virginia and it's quite beautiful.
Ha ha Pseudo! That would be a good explanation if the shrubs bloomed but had no berries, but mine aren't even in the dating pool : - )
Mmm, let's see,what we need then is a Match.com for plants. Actually, I knew all along that Virginia is for lovers. I've had the good fortune to spend some time there.
Actually, I thought "Virginia is not for lovers" was funny!
But seriously, why won't my shrubs bloom? I want flowers and berries!
Quite seriously, it might just be time. I have had four doublefile viburnums in the ground through two springs now and got two flowers on one of them. They were about 5-6 feet at installation. I think that mine just need more time to mature, and that may be the case for yours as well. The biggest one got the flowers.
The seven viburnums I got from Classic Viburnums were clearly more mature and developed, and they bloomed the first season I had them, which was his past year. But they were "garden center" size (at half the cost!) These others, though sizable, were clearly less mature and ready to bloom.
Make sense?
Yes, that makes sense. I thought that I might have been using the wrong fertilizer, giving them too much water, etc. Almost every shrub in my yard gets Holly Tone; the rest get Plant Tone. I'm not sure I looked up Bayberry's soil of choice.
thanks!
These are wonderful shrubs that are far too underused in my area.
I can help you with bayberry culture. I got into the habit of researching exactly what plants preferred. I had to, because several acid loving plants were installed in my yard when I was a complete novice (like fothergilla gardenii, which I also acidified with Ironite, but only twice a year).That way I got the best results from them. I get a real charge from that. Watching a plant go from surviving to getting the best of fruiting and flowering because of my efforts gives me a buzz (OK, strange, but it's a LEGAL thrill!)
Mine would become chlorotic without treatment with Ironite 3-4 times a year. My initial ph was 7.9! It took me a while to figure it out. These babies like acid soil, so I gave them pine bark mulch and Ironite and it corrected the problem. Please see the picture for chlorotic bayberries - note that they are huge anyway! I did correct it after this. But it also shows the suckering salvia verticillata 'White Rain' and anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' I referred to above. How I miss this ease of culture!
As for soil of choice, talk about unfussy! These will grow in sandy soil on the east coast. Although it does not mention ph, check out this blurb from The Missouri Botanical Garden (I love their plant information, by the way):
Culture
Easily grown in average, dry to medium, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist, peaty or sandy, acidic soils, but tolerates a wide range of soils and growing conditions, including drought, poor soils, wet soils, high winds and salt spray (seashore or road salt conditions). Groupings of plants need at least one male plant to facilitate pollination of female plants and subsequent fruit set. Shrubs tend to sucker, and may form sizeable colonies in optimum growing conditions.
The whole sheet on this plant is here:
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=e310
Nice description, Donna. Although it says it tolerates shade and drought, I have not found it to be very successful in those abysmal conditions if they're too extreme. As I improve upon those two problems I hope to grow more in a woodland garden area. Just walk the national shoreline in Cape Cod to appreciate its fragrance also.
Sometimes I think that when they say tolerate it means it doesn't die - hardly a recommendation. Sure, mine didn't die in the extreme opposite of ph it required. It's s tribute to the plant's toughness that it grew anyway.
I also saw a variant in California north of San Francisco. It's almost identical. Same lovely scent.
I have a client who has them in too much shade, has nowhere to put them, and asked if I could get rid of them. It's interesting how tough it is to get rid of a plant that suckers, but I asked if I could try to take them. They said, certainly. So I'm trying to get sections out alive, which is a challenge.
Thanks Donna. I'll test the soil PH and see if it's acidic enough. I also realized that I've only had them for one winter, not two, and it's possible that the early spring cold snap (which came after a warmer period) might have killed this season's buds.
That's the spirit! I understand. I have several shrubs that should have bloomed. But yours are keepers. Your plan and thinking sound just perfect to me.
