Moving a magnolia
The saucer magnolia makes any place it grows more beautiful
It’s moving day, the truck is packed, the car stuffed and there’s just one more item on the list to load: a magnolia tree.
We know people take plants from their old house to the new one: hostas, ferns and coneflowers, for instance, but trees?
That was a question I got from a reader. For sentimental reasons, she wants to move a saucer magnolia. The new owner has agreed to let the tree go, but the big question is: can it be done?
Saucer magnolias (Magnolia x soulangeana) are spectacular trees. Look around Hamilton this week and you will see them opening their large, cup-shaped, fragrant pink flowers. They are the showiest magnolia we can grow in Southern Ontario, with a hardiness range from zones 4 through 9. At maturity they reach seven metres or more, with a spread as wide.
The saucer magnolia makes any place it grows more beautiful, and even when the blooms are finished, its shapely branching structure remains elegant in a nostalgic sort of way. They are particularly suited to gardens around Victorian era homes.
I did recall that moving a magnolia is difficult. They resent it, in fact. In the Tree Portrait series of bulletins published by the Royal Botanical Gardens, the late director Leslie Laking described their coarse, fleshy root system.
Moving a tree you love is a romantic notion, but ultimately it would be wiser to plant a new saucer magnolia.
“It makes them difficult to transplant,” he wrote.
Moving a saucer magnolia, I suspect, would be a job for a professional, and likely an expensive undertaking. Some experts suggest transplanting in the fall while the soil is still warm. A guarantee for its survival would be unlikely.
Moving a tree you love is a romantic notion, but ultimately it would be wiser to plant a new saucer magnolia. They are easy to grow and adaptable to a wide range of soil. Their only fault — and it’s not really their fault — is that flowers can be damaged by late spring frosts. Otherwise, most magnolias like full sun, protection from strong winds, adequate water.
A layer of mulch around the base is also advisable.
The iconic saucer magnolia is a compelling choice, but there are other types to consider. Since there are about 100 species, breeders have been clever at developing new varieties. For smaller spaces, there are good choices in the Little Girl series, developed at the U.S. National Arboretum. These bloom about two weeks later than the saucer magnolia, minimizing the risk of frost damage, and some with a shrublike form will take up less space than a saucer. In the Little Girl series, Elizabeth departs from the pink-purple range, with its delicate yellow flowers.
More intense colour is found in Yellow Bird, a magnolia originating at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. At the RBG Arboretum in Dundas, the magnolia collection includes Star, Loebner and Anise. The lesser known Ontario native plant called Magnolia acuminate, or cucumber tree, is also in the collection.
I once grew from seed an exotic umbrella magnolia, called tripetala, native to Eastern North America.
It was quite a long process to get it to germinate, and then to produce its first set of gigantic leaves.
Then I transplanted it and it died. That’s what I remember about moving a magnolia.