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Can you trim magnolia little gem?
The Evergreen Magnolias including Magnolia ‘Little Gem’ , ‘Teddy Bear’ and ‘Kay Parris’ all benefit from pruning at the right time of year. Pruning evergreen magnolias is carried out for three reasons, to encourage a bushy habit to maintain size and shape and to rejuvenate older plants.
Can you trim a dwarf magnolia tree?
Deciduous magnolias should be pruned between midsummer and early fall. Over pruning, even on a young tree, can cause stress. With any magnolia, it is better to aim on the side of pruning too little than too much. Light trimming a magnolia tree is always preferable.
How do you prune dwarf magnolias?
Prune before the spring growth flush, 6 inches deeper than where you want regrowth to appear. Prune more deeply into branches in areas with fewer leaves to encourage the tree to branch out and fill in the gaps.
How big will a little gem magnolia get?
The little gem magnolia grows to a height of 15–20′ and a spread of 7–10′ at maturity.
How close to the house can you plant a little gem magnolia?
Plant spacing Come out at least 5 feet or more from the house. If you’re planting a row of dwarf magnolias, place them 6 feet apart…or, for a privacy screen, 4 feet apart is fine. For planting along a fence, position the tree about 4 feet out.
How far back can you trim a magnolia tree?
With magnolia trees, removing healthy, if unattractive, branches may cause more harm than good. You should never prune more than 1/3 of the tree at once, so always start with branches that are either dying or already dead. When in doubt, be conservative with what you trim. Magnolias are very sensitive to pruning.
Can you keep saucer magnolia small?
The answer is yes, but only if you have an extremely large container! The smallest varieties of “dwarf” forms grow 8-12 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide at full maturity. Most of the smaller types grow into a multistemmed shrub rather than a single-trunk tree, though you could train them into a tree form.
What kind of Magnolia is a little gem?
Also commonly known as dwarf southern magnolia tree, the little gem magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) is a shorter version of the southern magnolia native to the southern United States.
What’s the best way to prune a little gem Magnolia?
In general, the best pruning philosophy toward “Little Gem” magnolias is the less, the better, allowing magnolia limbs to grow to the ground. Trees that are limbed up, where the lower two-thirds of growth is cut off, can lead to substantial leaf drop.
When do little gem magnolias start to bloom?
The large, cream to white, cup-shaped flowers are showy and fragrant and give way to cone clusters from late summer to early fall that release small red-coated seeds. Although the tree itself doesn’t need much maintenance, dropped flowers, cones and leaves can be messy.
Which is the smallest type of magnolia tree?
The University of Georgia Extension notes that Little Gem magnolia is one of the smallest Southern magnolia types, and it’s also a 2000 Georgia Gold Medal plant winner, because of its outstanding attributes.