My best friend lives about 7 miles from me, and I planted 2 wild southern Mag in her yard last winter. I think she may be colder than my area because she is about 1 mile or 2 from where the road is that goes straight up to Jamonsville (probably misspelled) and increases in elevation, well, ALOT. So I thought since she is literally at the foot of the mountains, I would give her free plants and sort of experiment with hardiness of some plants. The first year, the southern Mags literally blew out of the ground. The leaves acted like a sail and they were just... gone. I replanted in spring of 2013, with smaller leaved S Mags, the same wild type. I luckily got 2 with smaller leaves. So far spo good, but I will be buying more Dollar tree wire garbage baskets, and cut the bottom out and secure them around her trees. I also have planted her, yes, AGAIN, Live oak "late drop". I need to protect them too, because she has tons of deer and bunnies. There is nothing but woods all around her, so protection needs to be put in action or whatever, you know what I mean. I hope they haven't been chomped up already, I planted them in Sept, 2013.

Sue: Your comment about winter sun is correct. The ideal condition would be a site that is completely blocked from N and NW winds, receives full summer sun, and little or no winter sun. But, such conditions do not usually exist. So compromise is in order. In my experience, strong, cold, dry, N and NW winds during invasions of arctic air are much more damaging than winter sun, if you apply sun screen. So, a south facing wall is ideal if you liberally apply wilt-pruf. I apply it twice: once in late November and once again during mild weather in late January to early February. During the winter of 2004-2005, I didn't apply wilt-pruf (a grand experiment). Well, that winter was not expecially cold, but we did have record snowfall. And the sun reflecting off the snow created huge leaf damage. But, the tree bounced back and by that summer, it was full and lush again. Very hardy. But it looked pretty bad in spring. And the Bracken Brown Beauty (BBB)is a bit floppy--I learned that the hard way. Even a light to moderate fall of heavy wet snow can break branches if you don't keep it tight. The Edith Bogue variety has a much more stiff habit, but in my opinion, it is not as attractive as BBB. For southern New England, do not buy any other varieties (only BBB and Edith Bogue are hardy). There is a lot of talk about a small compact variety called Little Gem--perfect for small spaces. I tried it back in 2000. It died completely after a normal south coast winter. Don't buy it. Good Luck!

Update - July 1, 2008 I am trialing some of the hardier Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) cultivars in my Hamburg NY, yard. Here are the results as of July 1, 2008: 1) Unnamed clone from Appalachian Gardens - Regrowth is fair, however the tree is planted near a large Norway Maple that is slated to be removed this summmer. I am quite sure there is root competition from the Norway Maple... 2) 'Pocano' - Planted late April 2007. No tip dieback. Regrowth is extremely vigorus and tree looks very healthy. Has dropped some leaves, but has replaced them. 3) 'Edith Bogue' - Planted late April 2007. leaves look same as last fall, no tip dieback.Bought from Forest Farm Nursery and is grown from a cutting. Extremely healthy and vigorus growth and has dropped very few leaves from last year. 4) 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' - Planted late April 2007. Leaves look same as last fall. Has dropped few, if any leaves! Later to start into growth, however it is putting on healthy growth. was forming a flower bud, that I removed as the tree may redirect it's energy into growth. 5) '- 24 Below' - Planted in April 2008. This tree is growing quite good in it's first year in the ground.

Your tree SHOULD be fine. It is likely a combination of...cold damage (from a dreadful Winter), transplant shock, and typical, Spring leaf drop. More leaves will continue to drop in May and June, but should be fine as long as you are also seeing new growth. Don't know about your area, but here we are bordering on drought conditions. Make sure you maintain regular watering throughout the growing season.