Magnolia macrophylla

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Penn_Pete Glen Rock, PA May 16, 2006

I bought one of these several years ago (maybe 4?) and it arrived as a thumb-sized stick. Literally thumb-sized. The first few years it had to be marked with a length of bamboo to keep it from dying of moweritis. Now the thing is still less than 2 feet tall and it has a flower bud at the apex. The number of leaves is still only in the low double digits, and it has a flower? Is this how this one grows? I was led to believe that it took 15 yrs. for bloom. This plant is a seed grown straight species, not any cultivar or anything.

I ask because it is within range of Black Walnut roots and wonder if the poor thing is reacting to Juglone, like bloom then die. I lost a Larix decidua this spring from the Walnut (I'm quite certain it was the walnut), and for the last 2 years the Larix made bushels of cones on a small tree. This year, the larix has no new growth and only a handful of needles on a few branches. The twin Larix, planted away from the walnut, made 2 cones last year, not unusual since it is less than10ft/3m tall. The walnut gets cut as soon as the Oriole nest empties. I'm wondering also if Magnolias are very succeptible to Juglone.

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growin Beautiful, BC(Zone 8b) May 16, 2006

You may have lucked out and got a Magnolia asheii or Magnolia macrophylla ssp asheii. It will bloom when small and is, in my opinion, a more desireable tree. I have no experience with the walnut issue.

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StarhillForest Illinois, IL(Zone 5b) May 16, 2006

Growin beat me to the punch and I think he nailed it. And we have no problems here with several Magnolia species planted among walnuts. Our big problem is the frequent and severe drought condition that haunts us (and the deer, but they haunt EVERYone).

Guy S.

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Penn_Pete Glen Rock, PA May 16, 2006

Do youall think that if I posted a good close pic you could tell the difference?

Guy, I am thankful to have only a slight deer problem. Buck rubs are my big problem. We are still rural enough for hunters to put the fear of Guns and people in them. Another help is the Smooth Coated Retriever who hates mammals (dogs and primates excepted). He has rid us of groundhogs and nutrias and the deer are not so bold as they were. He ignores birds, snakes etc, but pees anywhere the deer run. They used to bed within a hundred feet of the barn, but now avoid my place all together. My azaleas look good, the broccolli is unmolested and the stray cats that used to hunt the shrubbery are gone. As nestlings leave, they need shrubbery to live in for a few days until the wings are strong enough. This is particularly true of cardinals and orioles we have noticed, but other unidentified birds too (I'm no better with bird ID than with tree ID).

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