Folks...can you please help. Our situation is a little different than the original question raised. We are a community group that is starting at a previously established garden. Our Magnolia tree may be less than 10 years old. It was planted at the same time as a cherry tree. The cherry tree took off but the Magnolia (possibly a stelletta) remained small. (They are in parallel beds.) In the same bed as the Magnolia tree is creeping winter Euonymus which, having read the info here, may be affecting the shallow roots. My sense was that the roots were shallow and may have travelled under the stoned walkway to the beds on the other side. At any rate, we have decided to take the Magnolia tree out and give it a different home...if that is possible. How should we remove It??? Will we be able to leave those more distant roots in with no problem or must we try to take up the walkway. On the other side of the walkway, the beds are on tiers -- made from the large pieces of wood used at railroad tracks. The bed with the Magnolia has that wood too but is just raised above the ground. I saw small roots coming from the direction of the Magnolia in the lower level of the bed on the other side of the walkway. I have only moved a tree once (and it was a small spruce). Please help. We really wanted to investigate what to do before we tried to tackle this. Our intention is to put a Hamamelis into the bed once the Magnolia is removed. Our intention is to remove the Creeping Winter Euonymus from both this bed and the bed with the Cherry tree by next spring. Faye Deckter Historic City Gardens
I wouldn't assume the wintercreeper was the problem - if there is one. Does the magnolia look healthy? Star magnolia often produces a comparatively small, bushy specimen.
Ron, First of all, I'm not convinced it's a stellata. It is not a bush...nor is it shaped like the pics on the internet. The flower was sort of like a stellata. It is not multi-trunk but rather single trunk. Kind of dwarfed out. All the branches are clustered at the top and shaped in a crown. It seems dwarfed out. This Magnolia in and of itself does not look bad or unhealthy. But it is not so appealling in contrast to the cherry that is like 7-8 x its size. I believe the pathway may have bricks underneath, then plastic, then stones. In the other direction, it goes to the sidewalk. The Winter Creeper's roots are extremely strong and grow under the railroad wood. I think this is a combination of the Winter Creeper and the obscuring of the roots from water, air, etc. There also is a cell phone tower that has its direct beams onto this plant. No way to know what impact that may have. (Don't want to debate this issue.) We are going to take the Magnolia out. So far...no info received to that effect. Faye HCG
