It seems to have been quite a large tree when you planted it. When I planted mine it looked like a 3 ft stick. That and the hot summer means it is going to take some time to settle. I wouldn't feed it yet. The roots really need to get established well. It is going to need a lot of water for the first couple of years. A good drenching once a week is better than a sprinkle every day. Here in the East Midlands, mine is about 6m tall after 30 years and flowers every summer. It took about five years before it started flowering. It does drop tough leathery laves on a fairly regular basis, with new ones growing at the ends of the branches. It won't take kindly to you trying to keep it to shrub size.
Yeah it was around 7ft when planted. I have seen these in other gardens (see attached) and prefer this shape. When can one start pruning / shaping to get to this?
I think that looks fairly healthy. It's a large plant already consequently it will have needed a good amount of water to help it settle in especially this year. As you say, new leaves are appearing. Although you have only had it 6 months it's much older than that and leaf loss is an ongoing and ever changing process.
The long bottom branches won't be suckers if it's only been in 6 months. I planted a couple of different ones 7 or 8 years ago, and one only started to flower 2 years ago, and the other hasn't flowered yet. They are slow growing, at least mine are, so will take a while to get to the look you want.
I have attached some other pictures base of tree and the leaves. I did think it maybe plant stress. The fact that alot of leaves have fallen at back leads to wonder will these grow back. There are some signs of little buds though. The tree is only 6 months old so too soon for them to drop?
If only 6 months old then your tree has barely started to establish. I presume it was planted as a large plant. If so it will take several years to establish properly, what I mean by that is it will take years for sufficient roots to grow out from the root ball into the surrounding soil. During this time it will be vulnerable to stress especially water stress. All the fine root hairs which take up water will be in or close to the original root ball. If this root ball dries out it is very difficult to rewet regardless of how much water you pour on it. Large evergreen trees are slow to establish. Your photos show a plant about as good as you might expect after such a hot summer.
Thanks all for feedback and insights. I did read they are a slow growing tree but wanted to just check if tree had some kind of disease or not but sounds like normal activity then
Only planted in April, plus a hard summer, not surprising that it has dropped a few leaves . This is what plants to when water uptake from damaged roots is less than loss through good leaves. It is a really big plant to settle in instantly.
Again I repeat. Relax, don't worry, everything looks alright (from a distance of course.)
One of your pictures shows simple damage from the recent move. The damaged leaves will soon be replaced.
Your picture of what you would like yours to look like eventually is a good start. Stand back and look how yours could be pruned to more or less this shape. The more you cut off, the less leaves there will be, and so the less water transpiration, and more balance between root and leaf. You can be quite ruthless at this stage Later on you will need to be more careful about when and what you prune in order to maximise flowering.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
SYinUSA said: My main concern would be how close it is to your fence. Magnolias are proper trees - they get enormous! We had an old one that was about 70' tall. They are also very shallow rooted, which makes it difficult to grow anything else around it. I don't know if it will be happy being kept to a shrub size, but someone else will have to say for sure - I've only ever seen them as trees. They may behave differently across the pond than they do here, where they're native.
I have seen large trees in southern USA and Italy. In England, they are generally given wall protection. There is a good example at Churchill's house, Chartwell, now open to the public through the National Trust.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Yeah it was around 7ft when planted. I have seen these in other gardens (see attached) and prefer this shape. When can one start pruning / shaping to get to this?
Your plant looks as if the initial training was to give a columnar effect.
If you train yours to a more conventional tree shape (as above), the flowers will be above nose height. A great shame as the scent is one of it's important features. In Surrey, we get a lot of wind, so I never get air-born scent. A good close-up sniff ids wonderfull, and the scent also comes in through open windows.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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I planted a couple of different ones 7 or 8 years ago, and one only started to flower 2 years ago, and the other hasn't flowered yet. They are slow growing, at least mine are, so will take a while to get to the look you want.
Again I repeat. Relax, don't worry, everything looks alright (from a distance of course.)
One of your pictures shows simple damage from the recent move. The damaged leaves will soon be replaced.
Your picture of what you would like yours to look like eventually is a good start. Stand back and look how yours could be pruned to more or less this shape. The more you cut off, the less leaves there will be, and so the less water transpiration, and more balance between root and leaf. You can be quite ruthless at this stage Later on you will need to be more careful about when and what you prune in order to maximise flowering.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
If you train yours to a more conventional tree shape (as above), the flowers will be above nose height. A great shame as the scent is one of it's important features. In Surrey, we get a lot of wind, so I never get air-born scent. A good close-up sniff ids wonderfull, and the scent also comes in through open windows.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."