Does anyone have a Magnolia Little Gem?

joe.shimmin

Hi, I’m thinking of planting a Magnolia grandiflora little gem in my front garden but on the net the mature trees, apart from being smaller, appear to be more dense and less open than traditional Magnolia grandiflora. Has anyone got a mature example in their garden that they can post a pic of? I’m in the South east and would be planting south facing but quite exposed to the wind. We have fairly free draining soil. I know magnolias are meant to be kept out of the wind but we have plenty of the larger form around here that seem exposed and they’ve grown fine. Any advice and pics would be gratefully received. Joe

Fran IOM

@joe.shimmin Don't know if you got an answer elsewhere but bumping up your thread to see if anyone can help. 

joe.shimmin

Thanks, no, no answer yet. 

Fran IOM

Sorry you didn't get an answer. I can only assume no one reading the posts has a Magnolia Little Gem.  

joe.shimmin

Fair enough, not to worry!

Jane Reid

Hi Joe, I’ve got a little gem which I think I planted about 4 years ago. It has grown slowly but has yet to flower (in fact I was hoping for some advice from the forum if there was anything I could do to encourage it to flower when I came across your post). Maybe too late now but here is photo. It’s just over 5ft & gets afternoon sun.

joe.shimmin

Thanks, I thought no one out there had one! In the end I bought a regular one but now I wonder if it will grow too big for me.
As far as I know, you pretty much leave Magnolias to their own devices but I guess you could feed it with a fertiliser that aids flowering over vegatitive growth. That’s a guess, I don’t really know what I’m talking about!
Thanks again for your reply.

Butterfly66

Hi @Jane Reid, you might do better posting your query as a new thread as some posters may read the first posters question and no more. It might be worth giving your magnolia some potash but I have read that Magnolia grandiflora can take some years before it flowers so maybe Little Gem is the same.