Please consult an aesthetic pruner to lace up/ thin your mag. Pruning into two distinct lobes like Mickey Mouse ears would be awful.

Lol, ok. Just an idea off the top of my head, not necessarily a good one.
So you think just thinning it would make it look better while it had leaves?

You need an experienced pruner to do this work.

Could you point me to examples of work like this from an “experienced pruner”?

I’d rather do nothing if it will just look worse.

From the looks of the rest of your landscape shrubs, the magnolia looks like "a massive bushy blob" because it has been pruned into a ball like the rest of the shrubbery. It is hard to tell from the interior pic of it, but it looks like it has been beheaded in the past.

The overarching theme you need to keep in mind to unblob it, is DO Not Prune It anymore. Let it grow back into a more natural form. Remove any dead or rubbing branches and leave it alone.

Is this in the PNW?

Yes, this is in Seattle.

It is hard to tell even in person if it’s head was chopped off many years ago and the water sprout are now large branches, or this if this is simply the natural branching structure of this shrub/tree 🤷‍♀️

I would thin out crossing branches and remove lower branches.

No, that is not it's natural shape!! No magnolia grows naturally into a dense rounded blob, Deciduous magnolias tend to have a loose, open form with no directly vertical branching. So it is not difficult at all to tell - even from a photo at distance - that this tree has been heavily pruned at some point in time.

The best tip for pruning a magnolia - any magnolia - is don't. Or as little as you possibly can. Other than removing any damaged or dead wood, there is no need to ever get close to one with pruners. They just don't respond well to pruning.

However, I'm not sure this tree is going to look great and more unblob-like without some additional attention. But not yet and preferably not DIY when the time comes :-)) I'd let it grow another season or two and then see if the crown still needs thinning to open things up. If you think it does, hire a certified arborist skilled in working with ornamentals. They will know how and when best to do so to cause the least amount of stress or negative reaction from the tree. And it may well take more than a single session, as you never want to take much off at any one time.

There's no shortage of qualified individuals in Seattle, thanks to the late Cass Turnbull and PlantAmnesty. And they are an excellent referral source for arborists and master pruners in the greater Seattle/Puget Sound area. Contact them when the time comes.

Thank you! A very helpful comment, much appreciated.
Agreed that PlantAmnesty is such an amazing organization and resource.

Just found this old photo on street view, so I guess it was chopped down pretty severely a few years back.

Yes- pruning is equal parts art and science- you must prune in such a manner that is healthy for the tree and so that wounds heal properly but also in an aesthetic manner that also directs future growth.

This "tree" is a perfect example of how one poor pruning session can ruin a tree.

Please take gardengal's advice and hire it out to the best person you can find.

In the mean time start reading and learning about pruning. Practice on things in the back of the house and learn as you go. It's not that you can't learn, but don't go in blind with a set of loppers, you'll ruin it even worse.

up my way.. many are in tree form ... some in ann arbor about a hundred years old ...

its probably to late for you to prune it into more of a tree form ... unless you just want to learn about pruning ... and dont care if you screw it up so bad you would remove it in a few years ....

this is how i look at form .. shape.. and size potential ..

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=saucer+magnolia+pruned&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

as you can see there are all kinds of variations on the theme ... so i might be hard to be told.. thats never been done before.. lol ...

ken

I’ve actually been reading a lot, learning about and practicing different types of pruning, one of my pandemic projects, so for about 2 years now. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp now of the technical side, now I just need practice on the artistic side.

I think what I’ll do is clean up any crossing/rubbing branches in there, doing a very light prune, see how it goes and hire someone next year when I’ve lived at this location for more than a year.