Sorry not nearly big enough to allow for the typical size development of this choice. Also keep in mind than any potted plant needs to be repotted at some point in order to keep going.

dealing with pots is a winter problem ....i presume.. 99.999% of the time .. cold in TX ... that isnt going to be a big deal ... but how wet the pots stay in winter might be ....

but the other side of the coin in your very hot area.. would be how hot a pot might get in blistering hot summer sun in TX ...

plant roots prefer to be dark.. under the media .. and cool ...

a black pot in full TX sun might get too hot.. to keep a plant happy ... and so you might have watering problems ...

understand that the most important thing in pot.. is not the plant.. its the media... its a water management system allowing proper water retention .. with drainage of all excess the given plant doesnt need ... and one thing for sure.. is mother earth in a pot is not going to work .. so think about how much media you might need for a water trough .... we might be talking hundreds of dollars in media cost alone ...

then i wonder where this is .. i suspect its out near the street as is usually common ... how much hose will you need to drag out there to keep it watered ???? .. and how often you will need to do that .....

how about a pic of the site?? .. do you have enough lawn. to come out into the lawn.. to plant.. so you dont have to be working right around the boxes ... too many peeps want to plant right on the box.. why not 5 or 10 feet away ... i would look out every window.. and find a spot where you can safely plant .. with one plant that will hide it from your view ... and who cares what the neighbors see ... lol ... its akin the the thought that foundation plantings are planted to hide the foundation ... NOT ON THE FOUNDATION ....

you are sitting in a box.. thinking your only option is to work within a few feet of the utilities... get out of the box ..

i wonder if miss dig would mark the utilities out there.. so you can work safely ...

thats the best i can do knowing absolutely nothing about dealing with all this.. in TX ...so... good luck

ken

Coming at it from a different angle. Are the Viburnums definitely root dead, or just died back?It’s not that long since you had the freeze. It seems a bit early to assume they’re complete goners.

'Little Gem' in photo are that small size at the time of the picture. Same as with deterioration of potting soil the future of such a combination holds within it the problem of the containers becoming outgrown. Just as when any other growing plant is put in a pot. With because of this bonsai being repotted and having both tops and roots pruned at regular and frequent intervals in order to keep the specimen the desired size and shape. A size that is typically a lot easier to handle than a tree in a big tub.

I've grown an Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' in a 30G container for at least 25 years. About every 5 years or so it gets removed from its pot, the roots pruned and media replaced with fresh, new potting soil. Before a tree landed on it this winter and lopped off the upper third, it was about 8' tall.

It certainly can be done.....but it will take some attention and effort.

Jaceymae has clearly stated that she is looking for a combination where the magnolias - a type of tree that does not lend itself to root pruning - do not have to be fiddled with after the initial planting. Same as if they were going into the ground.

WOW...I never got notice of these replies. Wonder what I have turned off? Anyway, Gardengal 48 thank you for hope for this. I will try to address some of the questions. I am planning to use root pruning bags, at least 30 Gal in 3'x3'x3' cube fiberglass containers. May even have a dead air space for insulating against heat. They will be within a yard, not on street and within view of the main house and entrance drive. Facing east so hopefully spared the worst of the sun. There is another magnolia on the property, likely another little gem. Doing well on iffy irrigation system. This is a landscape I took over a couple years back and that is the weak link. However I am there 3 days a week and can definately spot water when needed. There are also straws in pots that we made thru the horrific heat of last summer.

I have handles on the grow bags and now researching the best constructed ones out there so if need be I can lift out of the container. They are root pruning bags however, so perhaps that won't be necessary? Any advice on grow bags would also be appreciated.

And yes the viburnum a goners...splits in bark to the ground...one or two sprouts but not significantly rebounding. Multi million dollar home...need to put as right as possible as quickly as possible without making stupid mistakes. Why I am here...

Thank you so much for these responses. I hope you are still connected. I'll check back!

Grow bags as in fiber containers are a plant production invention developed to make woody plants growing in the ground more portable. How they work is the fibers constrict the outsides of roots growing from within the bag so that the part growing beyond the bag is a sort of half root. With the part inside the bag branching sideways in response to the point of exterior constriction. The benefit of this situation is that most of the root area remains within the bag yet the half roots still are able to bring in water and nutrients from the soil around the bag. So when the plant is dug up because it does not have a natural root system with a large percentage of fully formed roots being cut off by the digging transplanting is not the trauma it is with a specimen growing entirely in the ground. With it still being the case that the fiber container becomes filled up by the plant at some point and it has to be moved on to a different situation, same as if it was growing in a conventional pot.

I don'r see a problem using it in the containers, do you? unless they would decompose over time, which i'd prefer not to happen. I'd like to be able to lift out of cube containers if necessary. Do you know of a good quality grow bag? With sturdy handles?

Key point is inclusion of fiber containers will not eliminate or significantly postpone need to repot. Also there is a past history of some finding them quite a bother to remove from the plants, I don't know what has been done about that. Otherwise try searching something like growing trees pot in pot to see if anything comes up that might seem relevant.

Yes, I think I exhausted that option. I do however agree with Garden Gal. I have a Ginkgo that's been in a 20 Gal pot for 25 years. It appears very happy, although the size has been limited due to the root size that pot would allow. I however neglected to ever change it out of the pot. Apparently the size of the container has controlled the size of the tree? A bit along the lines of Bonsai??? I feel like trying these magnolias unless I hear a definitive no about it. The root pruning bags won't work? Why not? And why can magnolias not be root pruned? My understanding is Magnolias are very slow growing anyway, and if they are going from a 10G to a 30 or 45 Gal...why couldn't they last many years like that?

WOW, looks like I haven't looked everywhere. Apparently there is a Magnolia Society Website. I will seek out help there. Apparently a lot better cultivars available for containers than Little Gem. But I am certain I have never seen one and unlikely to be able to obtain. locally. for a decent price, but ya never know! Maybe next year they'll be everywhere!

I organized the annual meeting of the Magnolia Society when it met in Seattle in 1980. I was also once tapped to teach a college level class about magnolias but it didn't run due to minimum enrollment not quite being met (magnolias are like purple leaved plums - at the same time that thousands have been bought and planted there isn't that much focused interest in them present).

Evergreen magnolias often do not maintain a full and attractive appearance after conditions within a container start to get tough. The only genuinely dwarf evergreen magnolia I have seen on the general market is this one:

Baby Grand Magnolia (monrovia.com)

I will look into that one. Sounds like you are my source. The Society wanted 40 bux to let me ask a question, lol!

So sounds like you are not a big fan for an espelliered front of house application? I could do that one in the ground. I've seen beautiful pictures, but don't want to see an ugly stage. The Little Gem in the landscape is full grown, and looks pretty handsome year round. These will get full sun until maybe 1:00 or 2:00. I thought that might work here in Texas.

The ones in the containers would be facing east...I thought they'd have the best situation as far as the sun goes, and are not focal point, hiding some utilities, as I may have mentioned. The containers are pretty spiffy tho....maybe have to use something else....sigh...I bought these 4 early in the Spring and they are beginning to bud..but I must admit, they have been slightly scary storing until we an put them somewhere....full sun did a number on the leaves in the pots, losing quite a few and turning crispy, but they are releasing now, and buds are forming. I have to admit...I'm a little smitten by them for myself:) But I am a realist...and this IS Texas.

In case anyone is watching this still, those espelliered Little Gems went into the ground, and are happy as clams in morning sun Texas. Now I am considering 25G Little Gems in a similar scenerio, but want to plant them IN THE 25 G nursery pots IN THE GROUND...to somewhat restrict rampant growth. Any feedback on this idea?