Use a key to gently (very gently) scrape a small (very small) area of the bark just enough to see if there is a green color under it. The green color will tell you that the plant is alive at that point. Start at the top and work downwards. My guess is the top part may hav been killed by the freeze but lower down there was enough mature tissue to survive. (Maturity has its benefits). The tree will sprout from the green areas but do not be in a hurry to prune back. The plant will tell you in good time. Practise your scraping technique on other trees/shrubs first until you are really good at it; then check out the Magnolia.

Kman04, There are only 2 or 3 small nurseries in Ardmore and they pretty much sell the standard nursery stock you'd find anywhere. There's one larger nursery on Rockford Road that has a somewhat better selection, but there is not a nursery that specializes in native plants. I am sure there must be some nurseries in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma that specialize in natives, but haven't been up to that area myself so cannot provide first-hand knowledge of any. You might google and find the website for the Tulsa Master Gardeners. They have a lot of info on their website and might list nurseries that specialize in natives. The Oklahoma Forestry Service sells bundles of native trees (small, small whips) to landowners "for conservation" in late winter to early spring. Since the great ice storm wiped out so very many trees in a large portion of Oklahoma a few weeks ago, I expect that some of the nurseries lost a lot of stock, at least of their larger trees. And, of course, many people will be replanting this spring after they clean up all the downed trees, so competition for good trees will be fierce. I haven't had to go out and buy a lot of natives, because we have about 10 acres of woodland on our property filled with many of the natives we love. So, when I want a few natives to plant in the open (unforested) areas around the house, I just go down into the woods and dig up and transplant what I want. So far, we've transplanted quite a few Shumard and Bur Oaks, redbuds, possumhaw hollies, Virginia creeper, rusty blackhaw viburnums, American beautyberries, Mexican plums and some American Persimmons. We've also spent lots and lots of time removing the horribly invasive cedars that have invaded and colonized so much of our state. Shin Oaks! I remember the first time I saw a 'forest' of shin oaks in west Texas, near the Midland-Odessa area. The ones I saw were in Monahans Sandhills State Park and were only 2' to 4' tall. I was amazed to see the oaks growing in pure desert sand in a very hot and dry area. It is definitely a very tough tree. Dawn

***There is one born every minute*** Hi GH. I dont grow one but one of our members grows the Gordonia. As I remember pics of it on the Oz Gallery now my book says they flower in April and I searched back and could not find it. Have you thought of growing the Port Wine Magnolia they grow well here my neighbour has two. Have a look at the link below a bit of info about Little Gem they seem to grow here Ok. Cheers..MM. Here is a link that might be useful: Magnolia Little Gem

I have a little gem magnolia that some thing is eating holes in the leaves. I have put some links to photos below. http://terry.ozskeptic.com/photos/lgmag/Magnolia%202%20(Medium).JPG http://terry.ozskeptic.com/photos/lgmag/Magnolia%203%20(Medium).JPG Can you plesae let me know what is causing this and how to treat it Here is a link that might be useful: