Gadenin日本語Get the appLate winter: count buds, watch the forecast, do nothing else
This is the assessment month. The deciduous kinds are bare, so the structure and the flower buds are both plainly visible. Walk round the tree and look for the fat, furry, blunt buds on last summer's growth. Their number is next spring's display, already decided, and nothing you do now will change it.
Top up the mulch to two or three inches (5 to 8 cm) across the whole root spread, keeping it clear of the trunk. Spread it on the surface. Do not fork it in, and do not dig anywhere under the canopy, because the shallow fleshy roots are right there under the mulch you are standing on.
If growth was genuinely weak last year, this is the moment for a single application of a balanced slow-release feed at the recommended rate. Otherwise skip it. Resist all temptation to prune while you can see the branch structure so clearly. Mark what you want to remove with soft ties and leave the saw in the shed until midsummer.
Bud break to flowering: the frost weeks
Once the buds break, the tree is exposed until the petals drop. Watch overnight lows. A frost on open flowers browns them within a day, and the damage is worse where the morning sun hits the tree first and thaws the petals fast, which is why aspect matters so much on this plant.
On a small tree, a light cover thrown over on a night of forecast frost, removed before the sun reaches the branches, works. On anything above head height there is no realistic protection and the site you chose at planting is doing all the work. Accept a lost year when it happens; the tree is unharmed and flowers normally the next season.
Do not feed, do not prune, do not cultivate. If the ground is dry and the tree is young, water it, but otherwise this is a month for looking rather than doing.
| Stage | Main job | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Late winter, bare wood | Mulch, count flower buds, mark future cuts | Any pruning, any digging |
| Bud break | Watch overnight lows, cover small trees | Feeding, cultivating under the canopy |
| Full flower | Enjoy it, note the dates | Deadheading, spring pruning |
| Petal drop and leaf out | Clear fallen petals if the spring is wet | Pruning just after flowering |
| Early summer | Water young trees in dry spells | High-nitrogen feed |
| Midsummer | The only pruning window; deep watering | Cutting during drought |
| Late summer to early autumn | Water deeply, flower buds are forming | Any feeding, any late pruning |
| Autumn | Leave fallen leaves as mulch, check ties | Adding soil over the root plate |
| Winter | Check stakes and ties, inspect for scale | Winter pruning |
Late spring and early summer: establishment work
As the petals drop and the leaves push out, the tree goes into its main growing phase. Young trees in their first two or three seasons need a thorough soak every seven to ten days through any dry spell. Established trees can usually be left, unless the spring has been unusually dry.
If the spring was wet and you saw petals rotting rather than simply browning, rake up the fallen petals and remove them. Otherwise leave everything on the ground; it breaks down into the mulch layer.
This is also when the temptation to prune peaks, because most spring-flowering shrubs are cut immediately after flowering. Magnolias are the exception. Cuts made now heal slowly and often die back. Wait.
Midsummer: the pruning window
Midsummer, once the new growth has hardened and the tree is in full leaf, is the only time to cut. Wounds start to callus at once in warm weather with months of growth ahead. Take only what is dead, damaged, diseased or genuinely in the way, working back to the branch collar, and stop after two or three cuts on a mature tree.
Do not cut during a drought, even in the correct season. A tree short of water seals wounds slowly. Water thoroughly, wait a fortnight, or leave the job for a year.
Rub off any suckers arising from below a graft union while they are still soft and green. Take the prunings away from under the tree rather than leaving them, since dead wood lying in the mulch is where coral spot builds up.
Late summer to autumn: next year is decided now
From midsummer through early autumn the tree is forming the flower buds for next spring. A dry spell now costs you flowers eight months later, and nothing done in spring can recover them. If you water an established magnolia only once a year, do it in this window: ten to fifteen gallons (40 to 55 liters) delivered slowly around the drip line every ten days through any drought.
Stop feeding entirely. Nitrogen now pushes soft growth that will not harden before the frosts. Leave fallen leaves where they land under the canopy, or rake them into the mulch circle; they are exactly the material the surface roots want above them.
Check any stakes and ties on young trees before the autumn gales and loosen anything that is starting to bite into the bark.
Do not spread new topsoil over the root zone in autumn to tidy the area. Burying a shallow magnolia root plate under fresh soil suffocates it slowly, and the decline takes two or three years to become obvious.
The record that makes next year easier
Four entries a year are enough: the number of flower buds counted in winter, the date the first flower opened, whether frost caught them, and the dates of any late-summer watering. Kept for three seasons, those four lines answer almost every question you will have about the tree.
Add the date and size of any cut you make, and the position of any digging done anywhere near the canopy. When dieback or poor growth appears a couple of years later, that note is usually where the explanation is sitting.