I am technically in Zone 7 but winters typically do not get that low here. We had a two separate sets of 15F nights this winter. If we get in the single digits, we are probably setting a record that night. I went with the Little Gem since this was replacing some 30-40' trees that were taken out a few years ago. We like southern magnolias, and the Little Gem seemed like the perfect match: shorter maximum growth, gorgeous flower with a citrus fragrance, somewhat cold hearty. The tree was planted in August, or it would have to stay in a 12" pot all winter. The local nursery did not get them until late in the season, then they were ready to throw them in the trash stack with the rest of the unwanted plants. Driving today, I noticed a few full sized magnolias with several large branches that look like my whole tree. Hopefully, I will not need to prune this like one of Morticia's rose bushes. Again, thank you everyone for the feedback.

Joseph Hickman, a well-respected attorney (now deceased) formed his own club of hardy southern magnolia fanciers. His collection of magnolia grandiflora and american Holly still is in Benton, Illinois. In his opinion Brackens was the hardiest. I have done numerous google searches and found many are growing it west of Chicago. Many years ago Dr. Dirr did an article on testing the limits of southern magnolia in the Horticulture magazine in March of 1992. He did a very scientific study and rated some of the hardiest magnolia grandliflora known. In my modest collection I have Edith Bogue, Twenty Four Below, Victoria, Poconos and I had a nursery in Tennessee to root some cuttings from the most exposed of locations that fared the best in winter of the late 70`s here. If everyone was contented with the plants as they were originally where would we be today. People like Mrs. Meservae I`m told wasn`t contented with what she hollies she could grow. With very limited knowledge of genetics, she still made quite a contribution to plant lovers everywhere with the blue hollies rugose/Chinese hollies and rugose and English Holly. I don`t think one should stake their livelihood on growing plants of marginal hardiness, but pushing the limits benefits us all. By the way there are also evergreen forms of magnolia virginiana. I`m experimenting with Henry Hicks Pat McCracken has it as one of his goals to find or create selections of magnolia grandiflora for Zone 4.

ljmmus, Only water once a week, and when you do, water deeply. Leave a real small sprinkler on it, you can buy a round one cheap, and really soak it for awhile, really early in the morning, really early, or after dinner. I think you are watering it too much. 2-3 times a week seems excessive, and are there stones in the pic? Where are these stones? You have a good 2-3 inches of pine mulch around the base of this tree, right? You aren't using stones as mulch, are you? If you are, get them away from the tree, and put down some pine bark mulch for your magnolia. A good perimeter around it, the roots are shallow on this tree, it needs mulch, not stones. The stones will fry your tree. Seriously.

Hi -- I live in the N.W. suburbs of Detroit. I have a Little Gem, an Edith Bogue, and a Bracken's Brown Beauty. All of them were planted in about 2004 or 2005 (can't remember exactly). A lot of people grow these in the north. It can definitely survive your winters with just a little bit of work on your part. If possible, plant it somewhere in your yard that gets a lot of sun but is sheltered from west and north winds in the winter -- a few feet out from the south wall of a house would be ideal, for example. Remember, up north, these are going to be just shrubs anyway, probably at most 10 feet tall, so space isn't a big issue like it would be in the south, plus this is a small variety by nature. In the winter, I protect mine by gathering paper lawn and leaf bags full of oak leaves from the neighborhood and completely surrounding them with a protective circle of these bags two bags high. It takes about 2 dozen bags to encircle them, since they are all planted together and are probably about 8 feet wide. I use stakes and heavy twine to secure the bags. Then, I throw an old quilt and a green tarp over the top and secure that down. I cover them up around Thanksgiving and remove the covering at the end of March. In the spring, depending upon the severity of the winter, the leaves can be perfectly fine or they can be all brown and dead. But, even if the leaves are dead, the tree is alive, and it grows back really quickly. It will be beautiful again by the middle of June, and it should bloom from June through early September, a few blooms at a time. IMO, the flowers of southern magnolia are so special they are worth it -- those waxy white petals and that sweet, lemony scent. Also, I do a lot of floral crafts, so I do gather the fallen leaves for that, they're wonderful to make wreaths and so forth. You could cover the tree with any kind of insulating structure you'd like -- the ultimate would be to make it a nice wooden box lined with foamboard. I just use the bags of leaves because they're free, easy to get, and do the job.