Well, with Miracle Gro (SATAN!!!) which a) does NOTHING to improve the soil except build up salts over time, is B) heavy on the Nitrogen... nitrogen makes big plants, small flowers and fruits. I hate the stuff and wouldn't use it, specially because it's made by a company owned by Monsanto (SATAN!!!) If he INSISTS on using Miracle Gro... instead of benefitting his soil... I'd suggest a Miracle Gro for flowering... Flower Booster or whatever it's called. I hate recommending it... I HATE miracle gro! ICK! I need to go take a shower, I feel dirty.
The magnolia has pests... I don't know what it is...

Peonies do better with NO chemical fertilizers. The roots must be planted only one inch deep in soil. Any deeper and they will not get big, or have many flowers. One ite that does help blossoming is an early dose of phosphorous, specifically bone meal. It appears that the magnolia tree may have disease, or is getting some from the soil under it. The flowers tend to rot when they fall, and so a good cleanup is necessary after they are finishing the flowering. A light application of copper sulfate may help if its spread under, and around the drip line of the tree. Good direct sunlight is also necessary for both. At least about 8-10 hours per day.

First,thanks for the reply.

I believe what he is using is Miracle Gro for flowering. I don't know why you have such an aversion to Miracle Gro (that doesn't require an answer, thank you). So many of us here use it with great success. I used it all last year with a garden that thrived. I had my herbs in containers and of course this year everything was repotted. But also for food in the planter bed, they love the stuff. Maybe you're not using it right. You ARE diluting it, right? Not just sprinkling the granules on the plants. Or maybe the trouble is with the bottle? Are you taking the cap off? ;-)

As far as the way they are planted. They are well-established plants, big and bushy....just fine. They just don't produce buds like you think you'd see from that much lush foliage. But oh my, the ones they do produce. You can place one in a vase in a room, and it will fill the room with its fragrance. Nothing better than a Peony for fragrance.

Well, if you are going to state why you like it, I feel I can state why I don't. Like I said earlier, it does nothing for the soil, cept get washed out into the water table... I know that for example, in Florida, they monitor the water because the tomato farmers fertilize so much, it's in the swamps and is causing the natural swamp plants to die out. On Gardening by The Yard, a tv show on HGTV, Paul stated that use of Miracle Gro in the garden, over time, deposits salts in the soil and will eventually make the plants ill.
Compost and organic fertilizers improve the quality of the soil and are slow release and have micronutrients that the plant needs AND is not owned by Monsanto an evil company trying to genetically modify the world, putting patents on seeds so that farmers will be forced to buy their seeds from Monsanto. Europeans are fighting Monsanto, and slowly, the U.S. is doing it also.
I do realize that some people feel that using brand names and using chemicals is so much easier... but life is like that, nothing of value comes easy and choosing the easy way out has consequences... of course, none of which most individual gardeners will suffer... and that's the American way!

You might want to check about the peonies on the Peony Forum. They've been able to answer every question I've had!

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb Peony forum

MG is 99% pure chemical salts. Thats why is granulated and once mixed with water it does dessolve into a chemical based fertilizer. I have used MG in my vegetable garden some years ago and found that it tends to give edible vegetables an odd taste, especailly tomatoes and peppers. I prefer to use an organic based fertilizer for most of my garden growing. For my flowering containers plants, I do use a fish emulsion as well as bone meal to increase the phosphorous which in turn helps roots and blossoming. This year, I will also be mixing in some of the polymer crystals as some of my containers dry out almost overnight due to their locale in direct sun every day and with very thirsty petunia plants. For the tomatoes, and other vegetables, I like using an organic fertilizer from Ohio Earth Foods, called Re-vita. Its slow to break down and will not give plants a strong 'rush' of a fertilizer, which I don't feel is very beneficial to their normal growing cycle. The plants I grow are all from seeds I start usually in March. My sister has very sensitive taste buds and can always tell if I have used a chemical fertilizer like MG on my tomatoes. A gave a friend a small bag of my organic fert for his tomato plants. While planting some plum tomato plants, he accidentially added too much of the fertilizer to one hole when he set the plant in. If it were MG, the tomato would have been burned by the chemicals in MG. I told him that my tomato fertilizer is so mild that you can actually grow the tomato plants in it directly without any ill effects.

For peonies, if they are planted any deeper than 2 inches, they will have small stems and leaves and will never have flower buds. A peony plant needs at least 2-3 years in a settled in spot in order to get enough of a root system to grow a few decent sized flowers. At one time, I felt it necessary to cut off all the green growth after they flowered, but was told it should be left to grow on its own until fall, when you cut off all the dead growth. They also need some kind of 2-3 foot tall fence to help the flower stalks from snapping over due to he weight. Ants love the sweetness that oozes out of the flower buds too, and it doesn't seem to harm the flowers.

Here is a link that might be helpful...

The future of the planet is at risk and doing all we can to keep it clean and healthy is of vital importance.

Here is a link that might be useful: Monsanto...

I posted good reasons not to use Miracle Gro, I felt this way before I knew about Monsanto. Apparently, using Miracle Gro is more important to you than good gardening sense.

My father was the son of a farmer. He swore by Miracle Grow. I know Paul James thinks it's bad for the soil over the long run. To each his own. I try to enrich my soil with compost worked into it in the fall.

I can't answer your question about magnolias because I don't grow any. However, if there is a forum for your father's state (GA, FL, the Carolinas, whatever), ask on that forum. There will be plenty of people in his state growing magnolias, and some of them will have experience with his problem. It is my experience from seeing hundreds and hundreds of magnolias growing in other people's yards that magnolias specialize in dropping leaves, but like I said - I don't grow them.