Magnolia Question

I have a worry about a hardy Magnolia that I have had for a year now. I purchased it as a 2 ft tall shrub, planted last spring and it did wonderfully, even giving me a couple extra blossoms in August. It wintered well as I expected it would, and this Spring it had lots of buds very early on. Then at the end of April we moved. It was still in the bud stage when I lifted it into a large pot until I could get a planting place ready for it at our new home. I did so within the first week and although it didn't get any blossoms, the buds opened to healthy looking leaves...on the lower half of the shrub! The top 10 inches have the original buds...still unopened. :( The branches with these unopened buds look healthy enough, so I know they aren't dead, but what am I too expect? I am sure it is because I moved it, just as moving some other bulbs that did not produce any flowers, ei, tulips. Should I leave these brances alone, or should I cut them down to the leafed out sections? I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Don

It's likely they are slowly dying back, if indeed they are still alive right now. I assume you did the scratch test to see if the cambium layer(layer of living tissue just below the bark) is still green and alive. I'd give them a few more weeks to make sure the die back has stabilized and then trim them back to healthy growth.

Thank you kman_blue. On close inspection it appears you are correct. The Cambrian layer is indeed, dried and yellow. sigh... I will trim them back to the healthy growth. I guess I was wishful thinking; but hopefully it will grow again. No more moving!

Magnolias down by me don't like to be transplanted. In fact a large one can't be. I thought that was true of all magnolias but people have told me the smaller ones (little gems) can be moved.

Good luck.

CoreHHI,

I assume you are speaking only of Southern Magnolia(Magnolia grandiflora). I think DonM47 was talking about a smaller shrubby (probably hybrid) deciduous Asian Magnolia. Magnolias are an extremely large and diverse bunch with about 211 species and more than 1,000 hybrids and named cultivars. They range from giant tropical evergreen shade trees and a few temperate deciduous large shade trees(Southern Magnolia might be considered either a large evergreen subtropical shade tree or a large evergreen temperate shade tree) to small shrubby deciduous temperate and a few evergreen tropical understory plants. I think that most don't like to be moved once they reach a certain size, but when smaller(say under 6' to 8' tall) most are quite easy to move when compared to some other genera of plants.

I can only wish that my Magnolia was a Grandiflora :) No, kman_blue is correct in assuming that mine is a hybrid: The desciption for it is:

Magnolia Hybrid "Susan" (Northern Gems Collection) Product of Canada
Mature size: 10-20 ft tall, 10-20 ft wide
These deciduous trees make excelllent specimen trees or multi-stemed shrubs.

Thanks to you both for your input. Much appreciated.

Don