Randy Magnolia

[Seahunter15]

Hello Bonsainut community, I decided to share a few of my trees after getting great info here for years.

This is a Randy magnolia (apparently cross of Stellata & Liliflora) that I grew as a landscape Tree for well over a decade. In spring of 2019 I chopped several sub trunks off the magnolia leaving one well tapered trunk and several large wounds. I left to regrow new shoots the rest of the year.
I dug it up and planted in a wood box in spring 2020late 2020late 2021
Late 2022some takeaways post chop are that the branching develops long internodes and grows straight up. Care needs to be taken to gently guide them down before they harden too much. I also wired new growth early and often. Magnolia has become one of my favorite bonsai and I have a few others (stella). I’d love to here of anyone else growing magnolias

 

[Colorado]

Wow, GREAT looking tree!!!

 

[penumbra]

Nice job.

 

[Seahunter15]

Thanks
This spring I’m planning to repot the tree in to a new wood box and work on the roots.
Work on closing wounds using a dremel and cut paste.
I’d also like to try and take numerous cuttings for future root grafts. This will be a long term project like most deciduous trees. But my favorite part about bonsai is watching trees improve over time. I’ll update the progress as I go.

Here’s the magnolia in leaf

Big leaves! I enjoy the bark, branching, buds and flowers of these

 

[Seahunter15]

I wanted to share some recent work on the randy magnolia.
The roots grew nice after the chop. I was happy to see new roots growing from the large chopped off roots.

 

[Seahunter15]

After repotting I decided to address the upper trunk apex area that always bothered me. To me the trunk line looks like a formal upright type tree and the sharp turn at the top didn’t seem to work.
So I’m rebuilding the top

I’ll likely grow a long sacrifice branch off the top and reduce the other taperless branches in stages to balance vigor.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Wow!

Incredible.

Amazing work here!

I have nothing to add, except a dropped jaw.

 

[Seahunter15]

Thanks for the kind words! I can’t wait until this thing is developed and ramified so I can enjoy the spring display

....and yes I’m that guy who prints pictures of my garden and puts them on the wall

 

[shinmai]

Based on my own experience with M. Stellata, I would caution against the use of the Dremel, in favor of hand tools. The Dremel builds up a lot of heat, which can kill the cambium edge around the wound. I had to learn this lesson over the course of two growing seasons.
That is one righteous looking magnolia. Nice work!

 

[shinmai]

This is mine, photo taken this morning at our annual silhouette show. Once again, hugely popular with the visitors because they think it’s a pussy willow.

 

[Seahunter15]

Hello all, I wanted to share some recent work on my magnolia. I decided to repot this thing into a bonsai pot. It’s a koyo 18 inches by 3 1/4 inches deep for referenceCheck out those roots after one yearAlso pretty happy with how some of the chops are healing, this shows one growing season

 

[Seahunter15]

Here it is in bloom last spring, only got one this year,

 

[shinmai]

That looks GREAT! It’s a hell of a lot more “bonsai” than mine will ever be. Excellent taper from that massive base, great branch progression, and nice apex. Mine had only one blossom year before last, then last year it had 31. This year about twenty, they all bloomed within four days of each other, and faded in the course of a single day—which leads me to think I need to do some digging into how to fertilize for better blossom production and strength. If you ever get leaf reduction figured out let me know. That is really very nice work there, friend—well done indeed.

 

[shinmai]

BTW, being a longtime guitarist of a certain age, the title of the thread made me think of Randy California.

 

[Seahunter15]

The magnolia grew well in 2024. I will note it developed much faster in the wood box than in a bonsai pot
Late spring
Early summer as first flush hardened off

Pruned shoots and leaf pruned. Heavily in the top

 

[Seahunter15]

Fall pruning and winter pic