Hi, I have a Magnolia grandiflora I planted some years ago, it grows well in the summer, but looses all its leaves in the winter and the stem dies back almost to the ground because of the cold winters here in mid-Wales. Can I grow it up the wall of the house for shelter or will it get too big or damage the house foundations? and is it ever likely to flower in this climate? Alternatively, would planting it in a sheltered wooded area be any good or should I give up trying to grow this plant completely?

On Feb 13, 10:43*am, Julian200
wrote:
Hi, *I have a Magnolia grandiflora I planted some years ago, it grows
well in the summer, but looses all its leaves in the winter and the stem
dies back almost to the ground because of the cold winters here in
mid-Wales. Can I grow it up the wall of the house for shelter or will it
get too big or damage the house foundations? and is it ever likely to
flower in this climate? Alternatively, would planting it in a sheltered
wooded area be any good or should I give up trying to grow this plant
completely?

--
Julian200

I have one (Herefordshire) does OK. Damage, depends on the
construction/depth of your foundations. Some are virtually immune
some are easily damaged.

On 2/13/2011 10:43 AM, Julian200 wrote:
Hi, I have a Magnolia grandiflora I planted some years ago, it grows
well in the summer, but looses all its leaves in the winter and the stem
dies back almost to the ground because of the cold winters here in
mid-Wales. Can I grow it up the wall of the house for shelter or will it
get too big or damage the house foundations? and is it ever likely to
flower in this climate? Alternatively, would planting it in a sheltered
wooded area be any good or should I give up trying to grow this plant
completely?





Go up to Bodnant in the Conwy Valley not far from you, they have quite a
few there, I'm not sure which varieties, Goliath springs to mind but I
can't remember it's a long time since I visited. Must go again.
Hwyl
Don

On Feb 13, 4:35*pm, Donwill wrote:
On 2/13/2011 10:43 AM, Julian200 wrote: Hi, *I have a Magnolia grandiflora I planted some years ago, it grows
well in the summer, but looses all its leaves in the winter and the stem
dies back almost to the ground because of the cold winters here in
mid-Wales. Can I grow it up the wall of the house for shelter or will it
get too big or damage the house foundations? and is it ever likely to
flower in this climate? Alternatively, would planting it in a sheltered
wooded area be any good or should I give up trying to grow this plant
completely?

Go up to Bodnant in the Conwy Valley not far from you, they have quite a
few there, I'm not sure which varieties, Goliath springs to mind but I
can't remember it's a long time since I visited. Must go again.
Hwyl
Don
When I lived in Cardiff there was one up against one of the houses in
Cathedral Road, they were old Victorian houses, 4 stories high, and it
flowered it's socks off every year. the property was sold and re
developed as offices, the Magnolia was cut off at ground level and the
stump which was well over 18 inches accross. had been caped with a
lead sheet.
3 years later it had pushed past the sheet and was over 15 ft tall and
looking very healthy.
David Hill

"Dave Hill" wrote in message
...
On Feb 13, 4:35 pm, Donwill wrote:
On 2/13/2011 10:43 AM, Julian200 wrote: Hi, I have a Magnolia grandiflora
I planted some years ago, it grows
well in the summer, but looses all its leaves in the winter and the stem
dies back almost to the ground because of the cold winters here in
mid-Wales. Can I grow it up the wall of the house for shelter or will it
get too big or damage the house foundations? and is it ever likely to
flower in this climate? Alternatively, would planting it in a sheltered
wooded area be any good or should I give up trying to grow this plant
completely?

Go up to Bodnant in the Conwy Valley not far from you, they have quite a
few there, I'm not sure which varieties, Goliath springs to mind but I
can't remember it's a long time since I visited. Must go again.
Hwyl
Don
When I lived in Cardiff there was one up against one of the houses in
Cathedral Road, they were old Victorian houses, 4 stories high, and it
flowered it's socks off every year. the property was sold and re
developed as offices, the Magnolia was cut off at ground level and the
stump which was well over 18 inches accross. had been caped with a
lead sheet.
3 years later it had pushed past the sheet and was over 15 ft tall and
looking very healthy.
David Hill

.................................................. .........................................

Somewhat dangerous for the property I would have thought. Both having it
there in the first place because of the root damage and cutting it down if
it was that size for subsequent heave :-((

Mike

--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

In Britain it's normal to grow M Grandiflora up against a wall. I've seen many plants in flower in Britain. But this is a plant with a great many varieties and forms, and some are said to be OK for growing in the open even in Britain. And I have seen them in the open in Gloucestershire. Whether this remains true in mid-Wales, I can't say. Naturally it grows in shady woodlands, but its natural range is the SE USA, where the light is a lot brighter than Britain. I have seen it growing in arboreta in Sussex, but they still get a lot of sun because the trees were well spread out in that area. In general magnolias don't like any root disturbance, so digging it up maybe just what it needs to kill it off. Obviously it isn't going to flower if it has to spend each year regenerating its dead leaves.

On Feb 14, 9:29*am, "'Mike'" wrote:
Somewhat dangerous for the property I would have thought. Both having it
there in the first place because of the root damage and cutting it down if
it was that size for subsequent heave :-((

Mike

--

...................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
...................................

I very much doubt it. (a) I've never heard of M. grandiflora roots
significantly damaging property.
(b) Nor have many other people
judging by the number I've seen on the walls of big buildings.
(c) There's a giant on the walls of
Montacute House in Somerset. I'm sure the N ational Trust wouldn't
have kept that on such an historic building with all of their
accumulated experience.

Rod

Thanks for all your interesting replies, I do live in a very cold area, I am quite high up so night temperatures drop rapidly on clear nights the coldest this winter was -21c. It is the species grandiflora I have, it is still very small so I can easly move it and I will try it against the house wall, I assume it will not be grow very large in this climate. Do they have deep tap roots or are they surface rooted? I had one in my garden when I lived in East Sussex, so when I moved to mid-Wales, I thought I would like one again, this was before I realised how cold is was here! Are there any very hardy cultivars that would grow freestanding to below -20c? or is there no point is trying to grow this plant here.

In article ,
says...

Hi, I have a Magnolia grandiflora I planted some years ago, it grows
well in the summer, but looses all its leaves in the winter and the stem
dies back almost to the ground because of the cold winters here in
mid-Wales. Can I grow it up the wall of the house for shelter or will it
get too big or damage the house foundations? and is it ever likely to
flower in this climate? Alternatively, would planting it in a sheltered
wooded area be any good or should I give up trying to grow this plant
completely?





You seem to have got plenty of replies, not sure if there are any
pictures on line but the NT property of Lanhydrock house in Cornwall has
two huge three story plants planted on its walls, there is no sign of
damage and no sign of maintainance in the area near the trunk, I mention
this as the NT are not in my experiance the slightest bit sentimental
about plants and wouldn't hesitate to remove these trees if they
were causing damage to the house, so if you want to try again on the
house wall I would go for it.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In article , Sacha
writes
It's often recommended that they're grown against a wall for
protection. They'll go to -15C but can suffer at 5C, so putting them
against a house wall or a sheltered garden wall is a good move because
not only does it shelter them from the cold, it helps to shelter their
branches from the wind if grown as a wall shrub.



Just ordered 10 mature shaped ones for a garden who wants to cover up an
eyesore of a caravan parked at right angels to their property.
Can highly recommend Majestic trees who were helpful and knowledgeable
and knew what we were talking about. It helped that i took photographs f
what we wanted to do and the layout etc. and the height of the fences
etc. They can even plant them, with a small digger etc. within the next
few days!

Basically we want to plant along the fence with the Magnolias breaking
just about 6 foot o that they screen the campervan in winter . As the
houseowner is moving out this is being done to 'sell' the property so i
wouldn't generally suggest such trees but they were nice looking
specimens and round here magnolia g. grows phenomenally well to the
point that you have to annually lop large amounts from it if growing it
near a house or access route!
--
Janet Tweedy
Amersham Gardening Association
http://www.amersham-gardening.net

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:28:25 -0000, Charlie Pridham
wrote:




You seem to have got plenty of replies, not sure if there are any
pictures on line but the NT property of Lanhydrock house in Cornwall has
two huge three story plants planted on its walls, there is no sign of
damage and no sign of maintainance in the area near the trunk, I mention
this as the NT are not in my experiance the slightest bit sentimental
about plants and wouldn't hesitate to remove these trees if they
were causing damage to the house, so if you want to try again on the
house wall I would go for it.

See http://bit.ly/gM2Uuf

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Well done Chris that shows it perfectly


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk