Say a 12" plastic pot...can be up to 20" as long as there is summer folige is fine. Would i have to bring it inside in winter?(i can) I just want to know if i can plant it in a pot and keep it small.
I can share with you my experience growing magnolias on a balcony. My favorite in terms of appearance is Magnolia/Michelia maudiae. It's evergreen, has blue/green foliage which appears on well-spaced arching laterals, and fragrant white flowers in early spring. I bought it in spring 2004 when it was about 2' tall growing in a 1-gal pot. Transferred to an 8" pot it grew to almost 7' by the end of the year. I moved it to a 10" pot and pruned it back to 4' this spring because of the height limitation of the balcony. It has since filled out with a mass of new leaves and is looking quite bushy. It does require a lot of water - I have to give it a good drink every day during the growing season. I don't know if my choice of magnolia is a good one - it is a large tree if grown in the ground - but it'll be interesting to find out. I bought a Magnolia/Michelia chapensis this spring and it's following a similar growth pattern. Now if only my Magnolia/Michelia figo, with its wonderful banana fragrance, was this robust!
I also remember reading favorable comments on Magnolia sieboldii, a small deciduous shrub with fragrant white flowers. You may want to check it out.
Not much hort information, and it's a very close-up shot, but this magnolia was June 3rd's Botany Photo of the Day
I have a Magnolia Sieboldii, the flowers a beautiful & wonderfully fragrant. It's a reasonably fast grower. I want to prune it to make it bushier. When is the best time to prune it & are there any specifics on pruning this bush?
