Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Magnolia tree ruined?, 1 by shortleaf

shortleaf wrote:
A friend of mine has a Dwarf Alberta Spruce that turned brown on the top cone part, so I thought at the time "thats it, there goes the shape, it'll never grow a new leader". I think Spidermites or something was able to mess it up effectively before I noticed it. I cut all the brown off and the top as it were.
But, lo and behold, now, about 3 years later, it is well on its way to having a new cone. Its about to the point now that you wouldn't know the top was cut off unless I told you it was.

Yeah, I'd say that Magnolia is way too close to that fence, but its only a fence. I like evergreen foliage laying on or very near the ground, but that fence isn't too high, perhaps you can just prune above it in coming years. Unfortunately, I think the neighbors have the right to prune anything that hangs over their yard and I think that would mess its shape up.
The Southern Magnolia tree gets quite large over time (assuming you have the straight species tree which is probably more likely, unless you know for sure its not). I think the straight species Southern Magnolia is and was commonly planted in South Missouri. I took this pic of a Southern Magnolia not far from West Plains, in the bootheel, and it has crowded the house real nice, it is a large tree, probably around a hundred years old. Down there I saw those trees planted everywhere.
Will


This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 11:16 PM