"...do all magnolias have large root balls?" I'd feel more comfortable saying that most should and that yours should. "How do I know if enough of the root ball is being dug up?" Someone else may be able to come up with a guide better suited for this situation, but here's (click for link) one that could give you an idea of the absolute minimum size (in other words, the rootball would need to be larger than what you'll see in this generic guide). "What does "fleshy rooted" mean?" The roots are much thicker and less branched than most other species. Sometimes they are described as "rope-like". "Is that a better time to move it?" As Bboy said, the best time would be just before or just as it starts putting on new growth. __________________________ "...sweeping generalizations...is never or almost never a good idea are misleading" I don't consider my comments as being even slightly more over-generalized than I meant for them to be (unless there's something I am overlooking). In fact, I tried to be careful to make statements that would be valid even in the more unusual/rare situations I could think of. "Japanese maples and magnolias are two trees that require loose, highly organic soil if they are to flourish..." and "Most trees - no soil amendment. Magnolias and Japanese maples ... most definitely benefit from it." Bboy covered this VERY well, but I'll add that from what I've seen the vastly overwhelming amount of scientific evidence agrees with Bboy's comments. "If you start with a large area, and maintain a mulch layer the chances of creating the dreaded bathtub are nearly nonexistent." No, actually, the amount of area has zero effect on this phenomenon. Depth can be a factor (depending on soil profile), but not area. __________________________ Ahhh, so we're talking a raised bed.... Raised beds/berms, placed on top of native soil, are not backfill, so amendments are not necessarily a bad thing. The "bathtub effect" usually doesn't apply to raised beds, but the soil interface issues still can (depending on the relative size of the bed/berm). However, as pointed out in the planting guide, organic components should probably be limited to around 5%. You could easily extrapolate Bboy's original comments above to this situation. Whether your soil blend is ideal or not is impossible to know without more info, but, as you said, it's too late to worry about that now. I'll place my bet that it'll be fine. (-: This post was edited by brandon7 on Fri, Jan 4, 13 at 22:44

Do a scratch test on one of the smaller twigs - if here is still a green layer of cambium under the bark, then that twig is still alive. If it's brown or grey all the way to the wood, then that twig is dead. Keep checking back to the trunk, and down the tree. Anywhere you have greem cambium, you may still get new leaves, so I would keep waiting. If, unfortunately, the cambium is all dead, so is the tree. If it's still alive, make sure the tree isn't too dry - stick a finger in the soil next to the roots, down about 2-4". If it's dry, water slowly, so the water soaks in. If it's wet, then wait, and check again later. Replace it with another, maybe in a slightly more sheltered spot if with another M. grandiflora cultivar. If you can ask around and find one propagated from a northern source, it might help. I believe that a cultivar of M. virginiana might be hardier, - it also is less likely to have sporadic flowers in the summer, doing its flowering mostly all at once in late spring/early summer, from what I can tell. Someone with more experience might be better able to say. I understand the deciduous magnolias are a lot hardier than the evergreen ones, so maybe one of them would do? While the leaves wouldn't be a feature in the winter, neither would there be the danger of them being damaged in a hard winter. If you haven't mulched under the tree, doing so will help - as widely as you can, at least 3', no deeper than 4", and no mulch in the 2-4" next to the trunk.

I have grown Magnolia grandiflora "Edith Bogue" successfully in Guelph Ontario for 3 years. Planted outdoors in moist clay loam , slightly above grade and acidified by pine bark, peat moss, humus mix as top dressing . Watered regularly in winter thaws with luke warm water to keep surface roots drawing moisture for leaves ( to mitigate wind desiccation/ winter sunburn ) Flowered 3rd year after planting. Now 9ft high ( 8-12 inches /year) . Growing well this spring (2014) after extraordinarily cold winter down to negative 34C for several nights in January/February. Some leaf dessication this year (first time since planted, probably because of very cold winter)) and 25% leaf burn from spring sun (possibly due to late soil thaw this year as sun got stronger), but these leaves will drop anyway as a matter of course to be replaced by new leaves by June 1. New leaf buds already swelling. Also successfully growing Magnolia asheii, Magnolia virginiana "Porcelain Dove ( amazing plant), 2 hardy crape myrtles, 5 hardy camellias, stewartia and franklinia alamataha amongst other rare/ endangered / and zone pushers. All doing well.

Strange though, I got curious and looked at the houzz/gardenweb profile of that user name. Easy to do: just look at anyone else's and swap the name in the URL. The person who comes up for bombax,here: bombax Is from FL & TN and only posted 10 times. Surely not the same person? I'd thought I had a vague memory of that name, but maybe not. I most vividly remember the people I've had skirmishes with LOL! Like greyneedles, one of the long lists of "redwoods couldn't possibly grow on the east coast" posters. He's long gone. (funny enough the growth of eastern US redwoods was discussed all the way back around 1999, and by tediously pulling up old gardenweb posts in archive.org a couple years ago, I was able to track down, after emailing a poster from that era, who likely introduced the form called 'Swarthmore Hardy', but which is almost certainly 'Chapel Hill' earlier selected by Camellia Forest. He was an academic from the Philly area but not from Swarthmore.) It is especially sad to me that a younger person who was into plants is no longer with us. It seems in the world of horticulture specifically various "online forums" the younger personalities are even more fugitive, generally, than the older ones. I was on Hardy Palms back to its insidetheweb days starting in 97, when I was still in college, although I remember lurking for a few months before summoning the "courage" to post something. Seems so silly now but posting anything about oneself online seemed like a 'big deal'. Over the years a number of young posters would show up, try to make a splash for a month or so, and then never be seen again. So I guess like a crusty old barnacle I'm the exception! (and am of course, no longer really young, though when I meet various horticultural groups, I still feel young The only other person who was that young, that far back, and is still around in some form or another...is Ian the owner of Desert Northwest. Although he isn't online as much anymore cause I assume he's bogged down with the nursery.) Gardenweb was around back then too, though annoyingly I can't remember what my ID was. It's funny how I remember some people from that era vividly, like a woman in Fredericksburg, VA, who told me she had mature plants of Genista aetnensis, Arbutus unedo, Leycesteria and a couple others that piqued my interest. Alas I lost the emails I exchanged with her...but about 10 years ago (! how time flies!) was able to track her name down, probably again through archive.org and various other resources like ussearch; she moved to Florida in the early 2000s and last posted to GW around that time.