Comments on: hot p(l)ants: magnolias

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:06:04 +0000

Margaret — Sorry it took so long for me to come back and find your response. Don’t know what I have been doing, and apologize for not showing up with more information. Anyway, the vertical shoots from my magnolia tree are very long and grow along the surface probably 10-20 feet from the trunk. They are very narrow and have only begun to show above ground in the past few years when soil erosion has been more extreme. Looking forward to your visit with Pam, and some good first hand thoughts on what I should do here.

By: margaret

margaret — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:19:03 +0000

Welcome, Elizabeth. Pam was so sweet to tell people about AWTG. Love her wild and crazy blog, Retrorenovation. I am unclear how tall/long these vertical things are at the base of your tree. Is it suckering from just against the trunk, very straight vertical twig-like growth? If so, I would cut those suckers down at the base (and more will form, sadly, as the water sprouts will (also vertical) on the branches in older trees. Magnolias also have thick roots that often are visible at the soil surface; I keep trying to keep mine under soil and mulch on its sloped downhill side, but to no avail. So tell me more.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:07:24 +0000

Hi Margaret — I just found your blog today when Pam (of Retrorenovation) included it in her Saturday letter. I am writing because the pride and joy of my yard is a magnolia tree that has probably been here since the house was built in 1946. The tree guys measured it to be 75ft wide last year when they came to feed it. My question is about what you called water sprouts. My tree is on a bit of a slope and on one side many little vertical shoots are being exposed. I thought they were roots and worried that being exposed would damage the tree. So, last fall I had them layered with top soil and I see it is all gone again and they are once more visible above the ground. So, what do you think? Should I worry and top them again? Thanks so much, and it is good to see you have a favorite local nursery, Loomis Creek, in your lists of sources and blogs. My other favorite place to go is Story’s on the other side of the river.