I just bought quite a large (2.5 metres tall)
Magnolia Grandiflora very cheaply (12.50 euro = £10)
from my favourite garden centre
(Murphy & Wood, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland)
and am wondering how to get it out of its large plastic container?

Incidentally, the expert at the centre said it was a myth
that magnolia couldn't stand lime.
He said it would grow more or less anywhere in this region,
admittedly fairly acid as there is granite underneath.


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

On 17/09/2010 18:28, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I just bought quite a large (2.5 metres tall)
Magnolia Grandiflora very cheaply (12.50 euro = £10)
from my favourite garden centre
(Murphy& Wood, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland)
and am wondering how to get it out of its large plastic container?

Water it well first, then put it on its side and whack the container all
round to loosen the pot from the compost. Then (as Sacha suggests) hold
it by its stem and tap the pot rim all round. If this does not work,
then just cut the container away. You won't regret your purchase -
there's nothing quite like Magnolia grandiflora in flower.

Four years ago I bought an unlabelled Magnolia grandiflora in a Wyevale
nursery plant sale. It was about 80 cm high with a couple of other
branches, and looked a bit sick as the compost was on the dry side in
its 20 cm pot. It was marked down to a fiver! I repotted it, watered it
well, protected it for a couple of winters in a greenhouse, and last
year put it in a 46 cm pot. This year it is about 1.5 m high, with at
least 6 side branches, and is about to open its fourth flower!

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:

I just bought quite a large (2.5 metres tall)
Magnolia Grandiflora very cheaply (12.50 euro = £10)
....
and am wondering how to get it out of its large plastic container?

Water it well first, then put it on its side and whack the container all
round to loosen the pot from the compost. Then (as Sacha suggests) hold
it by its stem and tap the pot rim all round. If this does not work,
then just cut the container away. You won't regret your purchase -
there's nothing quite like Magnolia grandiflora in flower.

Thanks to both of you for your advice.
That is what I would always do with a smaller pot;
I was just a bit doubtful as this one is so heavy.

I've always had a slight worry - even with a smaller pot -
that all the soil would fall away from the roots,
or even that the roots would break.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

On 17 Sep, 19:00, Jeff Layman wrote:
Water it well first, then put it on its side and whack the container all
round to loosen the pot from the compost. Then (as Sacha suggests) hold
it by its stem and tap the pot rim all round. *If this does not work,
then just cut the container away. *

Another good trick is to let it get a bit dry, then roll the pot on
it's side a bit, taking the weight of the main stem by hand. Often as
you stand it up it comes loose enough to lift out.

In article ,
says...
I just bought quite a large (2.5 metres tall)
Magnolia Grandiflora very cheaply (12.50 euro = £10)
from my favourite garden centre
(Murphy & Wood, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland)
and am wondering how to get it out of its large plastic container?

Incidentally, the expert at the centre said it was a myth
that magnolia couldn't stand lime.
He said it would grow more or less anywhere in this region,
admittedly fairly acid as there is granite underneath.



Others have mentioned the removing from the pot, I just thought I would
point out that of all the magnolias, grandiflora is the most lime
tolerant, but to say that generally you can get away with any magnolia on
limey soil is as wrong as saying they must all have acid soil
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

If the roots aren't holding that strongly on to the soil, it doesn't seem to matter if it falls away. Just be gentle when you're covering them with new soil.

Remember to bash the bottom of the pot too.

If there are roots coming out of the bottom, you can usually gently tease them apart and may be able to guide them through the hols in the pot. If you can't, it can sometimes be better to sacrifice the pot and cut it off bit by bit.

bobharvey wrote:

Another good trick is to let it get a bit dry, then roll the pot on
it's side a bit, taking the weight of the main stem by hand. Often as
you stand it up it comes loose enough to lift out.

Thanks for all the advice.
In the end the tree came out of the pot with every bit of soil attached.
I've given it a nice peat bed to lie on.


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

My father has a couple of very ordinary deciduous magnolias growing at his house on the North Downs, planted by a previous owner. The ground comprises perhaps 8 inches of soil on top of solid chalk. They are chlorotic (leaves rather yellow), and usually flower rather sparsely, if they don't get frosted first. But they clearly survive, as it is more than 25 years since he bought the house.

I think actually they illustrate that sometimes it is worth pushing the boundaries. One of them is the sole shrub on a small island in the pond (not waterlogged as the pond is concrete lined), and has a rather lovely bonsai-ish form, even if its flowers are disappointing. It is a rather lovely feature. No doubt an even more spectacular effect could have been created with a suitable maple (though they don't like chalk either), but by chance that one works. The other one is just part of shrubbery, and just occasionally gives a good show in spring. It's a big enough garden he can afford to have a few occasional performers, especially since these survive with no attention whatsoever. Some of the in-their-element trees, on the other hand, are costly to maintain requiring attention from professional tree surgeons from time to time.

On 22/09/2010 15:39, Sacha wrote:
Halesias seem to be out of fashion
now and you don't see them much so some of our staff didn't recognise
it. The only reason I did was that my outlaws had one in their garden.

Whatever the fashion equivalent is to "tone deaf" to music, then I am it
by choice. I really don't care what other people's likes and dislikes
are when it comes to plants (although I can see why a commercial nursery
would need to). I grow what I like where I like. I am, nonetheless,
quite happy visiting NGS places and musing on what they are doing with
their garden designs..

Funny you should say that your staff didn't recognise Halesia. They
aren't the only ones! I have a fair knowledge of some trees and shrubs,
but I came across a small tree in fruit at Stourhead in early August
last year. Had no idea what it was - the fruits were like nothing I'd
seen before. I was even more puzzled when I found an identical tree at
Petworth in late September (both were unlabelled of course!). I went
back to Petworth in early June, and was annoyed to find it had finished
flowering - most surprising because of the prolonged severe winter
weather. I eventually found one partially dried small white flower. A
look though some books later identified the tree as a Halesia.

--

Jeff