Magnolia Susan

Can you suggest the proper way to prune a magnolia, what time of year and how severe.

 

Prune now, or better to wait for the blooms to be spent...so many types of Magnolis...

 

Thank you for your advice because this is an unusual year I will wait until after the tree has bloomed then prune and reshape the magnolia. Monte

 

There should be very little pruning of this. What is the situation?

 

The magnolia Susan is misshapend because the lilac behind did not leave enough space for it to grown evenly. I have removed the lilac but need to reshape the Magnolia. I thought just a little prunning this year and see how it looks. Monte

 

If you want it to grow and fill in where the lilac was you will remove no live top growth as food made in leaves and stored in stems is what fuels new top growth the following season. The common notion that heading back increases growth is false, when growth is defined as overall size increase.