Raised bed around Magnolia tree??

Can I put a raised flower bed around an old established Magnolia tree or will it kill the tree?

I don't know about magnolias specifically, but most trees won't be happy with that so I wouldn't take the chance.

It's been my experience that if the magnolia (or most any tree) is large (over 8" in diameter), you can safely add 4" to 5" of soil around the base, plus a couple of inches of mulch. The soil should be "loose" with lots of organic material, not heavy clay. Don't put it up to the trunk and you can extend it out to the drip line if needed. The magnolia roots will, within a year, grow up into the fresh soil, so be sure to get your plantings established quickly. I've done this many, many times to establish hostas and other shade plants under older trees with lots of surface roots and have never seen the tree worse for wear. In fact, they usually benefit from the new layer of enriched topsoil.

Thank you so much! This tree is old and huge, has been there over 60 years - just didn't want to murder it. Hostas is exactly what I wanted to plant under it - when you say don't go up the trunk, what do you mean? Do we need to leave a space between the dirt and mulch and the tree trunk?

Roots have to be able to get oxygen. Without oxygen they can't breath which means they die. Raising the grade over the root system will smother them. Raising the grade against the trunk invites disease, that's why you don't want to do that. If, after 60 yrs the roots are suddenly covered, the Magnolia won't be happy. I wouldn't do it.

Although my experience differs from terryr's, I agree with the general principle, especially the danger in encouraging rot, pests, and disease in the trunk by putting new soil up to the trunk. Think of creating a doughnut or wide ring of new soil around the tree, keeping soil at least a foot away from the trunk in your case since it's a huge tree. You can lightly mulch up to the trunk, say no more than 2" to make it look nice, but that's it.

Remember to use good soil that is at least half compost, peat, or some other light organic matter. Heavy soil, even pulverized, will not be good for the surface feeder roots. If you're planting hostas, you can even make individual small "raised beds" for each hosta, say 2' square and 5" high, and fill in all the space between them with just mulch. That way you would need less soil, and the mulch would not be any strain on three whatsoever (although I maintain that if you use the proper soil and mulch, the tree will do fine).

Let us know how it turns out!

Maybe the "individual" beds are the way to go. I don't want to kill the darn tree - my neighbors would have a fit! Thanks for the input - I will let you know what I do and how it turns out!. Thanks bunches for all of the advice.

I thought the general rule of thumb was less than 6" with grading gently sloping down toward the trunk and to keep the flare of the trunk free from cover. Has this changed?

That general rule of thumb fits into my experience nicely. I would also add that the great majority of fine, surface feeder roots are along the drip line of any tree, especially older ones. The larger anchor roots of an older tree don't suffer from shallow additions of soil and mulch. In fact, it may actually stimulate new growth of feeder roots in that area.

Enidcandles, I grew up on a farm in Fairmont! I lived and taught school at Glenwood. I have friends there.

Wow, most people don't even know where Fairmont is! My sisters kids (who are pushing 30 now) went to grade school at Glenwood. I went to Drummond, my son graduates from there this year.

Enid: I know. But I knew you would know where Fairmont is! I lived in Enid many years on Neilson Dr. Golly, makes me want to go back and visit! Those were good years!

I have two 30' Magnolias in my front yard - both have asparagrus fern beds growing around them - no problems with mine.