well, the shade will at least help prevent winter burn. I think it would do okay. Southern magnolias naturally grow in areas were there is alot of light but because you live in the north its best to plant them where there is some shade.Within 10 years it will be between 30 to 50 feet tall.

Magnolia grandiflora will do fine in partial shade. Getting a few hours of full sun in the morning and partial shade for the remainder of the day should be nearly ideal.

I think greenthumbzdude's Bracken's Brown Beauty must really be on crack. 50' in 10 years...really? The original Bracken's Brown Beauty tree was only 30' tall after 42 years. So that's a little less than a foot per year.

We might be able to give you more information if we knew where you lived. I didn't see any clues in your post or your profile.

Hi brandon7, I am in Virginia in zone 7. The site for the magnolia has good soil and pretty even moisture.

50' in 10 years is what rarefind nursery expects

50' in 10 years is what rarefind nursery expects

LOL!! Don't believe everything you read online. Growth rate of this cultivar is considered to be 'slow to moderate' (1-2' per year) and the 30'-50' stated is the expected mature size, not a 10 year marker. Maturity would be somewhere in excess of 15-20 years.

My neighborhood where I grew up had many beautiful specimens of Southern Magnolia. Many of them were around 30+ feet tall and I have reason to suspect that back then they were at least 40+ years old. On a recent trip there, I saw one of the trees which I remembered and was now probably 50+ feet tall. It must be at least 60+ years old now and is quite magnificent.

Magnolia Grandiflora is not fast growing, which is why I was so upset when I saw that the one which I had in my old front yard had been removed.

"50' in 10 years is what rarefind nursery expects."

I like and respect RareFind Nursery, but some of their info is just not right. I've seen striking contradictions in their info for other plants too. I think they need to go through and recheck a lot of their data.

Just for the heck of it, I took a look at their latest printed catalog. There, they list the mature height as 15'-20' and the mature width as 8'-12'. Makes you wonder if they use D&D dice to come up with their figures (-:

Oh, I may add though that the limb spacing of some of the larger varieties of Magnolia Grandiflora make it a great climbing tree for kids. I know from experience! ;)

Compliments to the OP on their choice of trees!

I think my Edith Bogue has been in about twelve years now. It's rate of growth is very similar to Bracken's Brown Beauty. Fifty feet? I don't think so, and I'm glad it doesn't. Mine is thriving, but is about twenty to twenty five feet now in zone 6 Appalachian Ohio.

I have a BBB that was put set out in 2003. I am in Zone 7 in Virginia. The instructions put on the tag by Monrovia said to plant in full sun and that is what I did. The tree was a nice size tree in the $300.00 range. It is now about 18-20 feet tall. The tag said it was a moderate grower, growing to 30-50 feet tall. I have used woodace to fertilize it on several occasions. Keep in mind, if a much smaller tree was planted at the same time next to this one, they both would be about the same size. The larger trees I plant take longer to get established than a younger tree. I like instant gratification, so I plant trees as large as the budget will stand at the time.

I guess I should expect 1 to 2 ft of growth per year then if I summarize what has been said. Regarding my other original question, do you guys think 4-5 hours of morning sun and bright filtered light rest of the day would be sufficient?

That's about the exposure my southern magnolia gets, and it's pretty happy.

Many of the magnolias in the neighborhood I posted about earlier were quite happy with filtered sun all day. Most of them were underneath a canopy of taller, old oak trees.

I got just over a foot of growth last yr on my edith bogue...but this winter was tough and 50% of her leaves r brown. I think morning sun and afternoon shade is better then full sun, especially in winter. You see a lot of winter sunburn on southerns and sweetbay mags in buffalo ny if planted in an open location.

In zones that are marginal for them (zone 6b), some shading will greatly help with winter burn. If your tree is still small enough an anti-desiccant stray applied in late Fall will help. I have maybe a half zonen cultivars of M. grandiflora. Some are more prone to burning than others in cold winters. Some are more prone to limb damage. I suffered no burning (or tree limb damage) this past Winter on Edith Bogues, Brackens Brown or Victoria, some minor bronzing on 20% of the Majestic Beauty, some tree limb damage on Teddy Bears and Majestic Beauty. Smaller shrubs (non-Magnolias) got hit hard by deer though.--(M. grandiflora is quite deer resistant.)

I have three Brackens Brown Beauty that were planted 10 years ago. They were around 4 feet tall when planted.
They have been slow growers for me compared to other types of Magnolias.
After ten years they are about 15-18 feet tall.

Hello today is July 20 2016 I have had several magolias I live in plainfield Illinois 30 miles sw of Chicago. I have found this is THE FASTEST MAGNOLIA I have EVER HAD GROW. When I bought my Magnolia the sell recommended I plain it rich cow manure and fertilize heavy and keep the soil very very damp almost water logged. When I planted it I used 200lbs of manure to back fill the tree. The first hear it was four feet tall in a 10 gallon. The first year it almost completely defoliated. In march I turn on a water drip ring leave it on all summer and fertilize with tomatoe pellets 3 lbs a month. it grew back 100% new leaves shed all the dried leaves and this year is year 2 its a lil over 8ft tall HUGE . IT GETS ABOUT 36INCHES OF GROWTH A YEAR !!

It's a perfectly decent cultivar of M. grandiflora, I agree. It has 0% burn in my NJ yard, where this particular cultivar with FLORIDA roots was first discovered to be resistant to cold and snow loads. I too get about 36 inches of new growth per year, and I never irrigate it (and we are currently in drought). Another cultivar I can recommend is Victoria, it seems denser than EB, with even lower growing branches and has red leaf buds (just as cold and snow tolerant as EB). Brackens Brown are supposed to be very good too, but I don't have one of those. I also grow Little Gem, Majestic Beauty and Teddy Bears.

I have a Mag. grand. in zone 6 Pa. It was 1 foot tall when planted and is 6ft tall now and it has been in my yard about 3 years. It only defoliated after winter of 2014-2015 a really cold one here. It is likely closer to 7-8 ft now. Very tough southern tree.

I have Norway spruce near Southern Mag tree pics 2 of them, strange to see them together, but, Southern Mags are really hardy. Norway spruce and S. mag 2016

AnotherN. Spruce and S. Mag 2016

Poaky, why the fence? Assume you are protecting from critters, which ones?

It's the beginning of August here in the Seattle area. We've had a cooler summer. Not a lot of days in the 80s+. My two year old Brown Beauty doesn't look that great. It's already losing leaves and I don't know what's going on. It isn't as dense as I expected. Although it has grown nearly a foot since we planted it last year and it did already flower about a month ago.

Anyway, I'm wondering what you guys think. Does it look like it is doing well? I water it along with all the plants every other day. It gets full sun most days.

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Subtropix, Deer, rabbits and at the time of ,my dad on a John Deere. The tree was planted in the same area where we had a Red Maple that got struck by lightening. I planted the s. Mag about 3-4 ft from the dead trunk of the tree. So I just fenced in the whole thing. The trunk after we burned it, then it was just about a foot tall. I had the tree there. I would add some blood meal to the tree trunk to add nitrogen to help rot the maple trunk without robbing the Mag of nitrogen. My pap has sinced passed away, but it made it easier for him to fence it all in and use Roundup around the whole thing, he just had to go around it and cut. I have used fencing around some of my trees like that, just roundup the weeds in and around the trees, mulch inside the fencing to stave off weeds, etc. My pap was PO'd by my tree planting craze, so I wanted to make it easy for him to just fly by my trees in their little fenced in areas, and we have rabbits and deer here that like to chomp into little trees. I am glad that they come now and eat some acorns out from under my Chestnut oak. It is too large for them to do any harm.

We have a BBB that is 8 years old and was planted at two feet high. It was purchased at a local nursery here in Fairfield County in Connecticut. Why it was up this far for sale is unknown, however we liked the appearance of the tree and the idea that maybe it did not belong here. In the beginning it was protected by burlap surround against the north wind in winter for years until in got bigger than the burlap. Like an earlier post in winter 2014 it lost most of its leaves and looked terrible in the spring. This summer was extremely dry and watered with a hose. It is now so thick you cannot see thru it.

Nice to hear, I have another one now I just recently bought in Va when I went on vacation there. The only other S.Mag I've seen in my area is a rich peoples area, it's where the Drs, Lawyers and Indian chiefs live, someone there has 2 fairly large S.Mags there, and when I went to the compost/leaf dump center, someone had dumped some cuttings from S.mag trees. They are very rare here, but, I would imagine that those in the rich neighborhood may have seen them and possibly a few people have planted them, unless those prunings were from those 2 trees I saw. They may have planted them small, because they weren't conicle like many nursery grown large transplants are shaped USUALLY. For all I know maybe a nursery near us is planting them, but, one of the largest around doesn't have them, I already nosed around there. Anyway, rmencel, it's great to have something so Tropicalesque, in our zones that needs no protection.

NOT BBB, but this magnolia grandiflora has grown most of its life in deep shade...it gets a few rays of sun through the canopy of other deciduous trees, and some sw sun late in the day sun but that is it. It must be over 20 yrs old, and is about as tall as our two-story house(the tree goes all the way up to the top of this photo):

This photo is taken from the sun room on our second story...you can't see the top 1/4 of the tree because of maple:

Canopy of a nearby maple has been opened up so it can hopefully get more light this coming year...we shall see what happens!

Too bad the tree is in shade like that, I am guessing it doesn't bloom. Sunrooms are nice, we were going to have one built, but, we could'nt afford what I wanted, and I really wanted something that plants would like more than for people, yeah, a greenhouse.

I know, I am thinking of chopping down the maple if this thinning out doesn't work to give this magnolia more sunlight...

When we bought this house, the sunroom was really the reason (plus they had a pond...) and I just brought in my orchids and other tropicals...

Really nice, teeka! Sunroom overlooking wooded area would be a good reason for me, as well. Is it heated in winter?

Thanks....This wonderful little gas furnace keeps it heated, but if it gets too cold come Jan/Feb, we have doors to close it off from the rest of the house. I hardly ever shut it off, though, it helps me get through the worst of winter.

The Seattle tree should be checked for foliage mildew.

Okay, you have plants in there, I am jealous, do you need a humidifier? I can never keep plants alive indoors in winter, the furnace dries them out to a crisp, even Jade plant croaks on me. My mom's cats don't help either. Orchids from what I know need humidity. AS far as the trees, I didn't know they were your trees, definitely give that Mag some more sun, it will be stunning in full sun.

I have a 50 gallon fish tank in the sun room and that probably helps with the humidity...at least a bit...I also use one of sprayers to mist the plants now and then.

I bet that fish tank helps the most, the spraying I would imagine is needed also. Well, I'm definitely jealous of that sunroom, and the woodland, but seriously that Mag would really look great with more sun. Hopefully you can give it more rays and keep most of the woodland which is really great too.