"Chris Nelson" wrote in message
...
The house I moved into this spring has a beautiful magnolia tree in
the back yard but there is essentially no grass under the tree. It
was a little sunken and I filled with top soil and reseeded with a
shade mix early in the summer. The grass came in well but then died.
We had a fairly wet summer and I didn't fertilize after the starter
fertilizer so I don't think I "burned" it. I checked the pH and it's
nearly neutral. Is there something about magnolias that would keep
the grass from growing well?

Also, there's one branch that's a bit low and I'd like to prune it.
Should I do that in the fall or the spring?

Pruning
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/tree_pruning

Troubles in the Rhizosphere
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Tree Biologist
www.treedictionary.com
and
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
Watch out for so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, tornado's, volcanic eruptions and other
abiotic forces keep reminding humans that they are not the boss.