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Detailed Explanation of Magnolia Cultivation Techniques and Care Management Methods

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Magnolia is white with a slight bluish-green tint, lustrous, clean and elegant, and is a famous flower native to China, with a cultivation history of 2,500 years. Also known as white magnolia, Yingchun flower, and Wangchun tree, it is a deciduous tree of the Magnoliaceae family and Magnolia genus, with a height reaching up to 15 m; when planted in the ground in the north it is generally about 5 m. The crown is rounded and egg-shaped, the winter buds bear large scales, and both the young branches and the outside of the buds are covered with short soft hairs. Cultivated varieties are short in stature with dense branches, and the flowers are large and densely clustered. Seedling plants are tall with straight trunks and sparsely arranged branches, with abundant leaves and sparse flowers, but they have strong adaptability and grow rapidly. The leaves are large, alternate, obovate to long elliptic, with a very short abrupt tip at the apex, a wedge-shaped base, and entire margins without serrations; the leaf surface is glossy and has sparse soft hairs, and the veins on the underside are also covered with soft hairs; the petiole is very short. The flowers are large, borne singly at the top of the branches; the bell-shaped petals are obovate, white, fleshy, and delicately fragrant; the calyx is white and very similar to the petals, with 9 to 15 pieces together with the petals. They open before the leaves in spring, and the flowering period is about 8 to 10 days. The aggregate fruit is cylindrical; the young fruit is green, and after ripening it turns brown and splits open. The seeds hang outside the fruit, connected to the placenta by a thin thread at the hilum; the outer seed coat is red and fleshy, and the inner seed coat is bony; the fruit ripens in October. Varieties include the purple-red magnolia, whose outer tepals are purple-red and inner tepals pale red, opening at the same time as the leaves, and fragrant. Based on the number of petals, whether the tepals are upright or recurved, the width of the petals, flower color, and flowering period, magnolia has been preliminarily summarized into 6 to 11 types.

Magnolia is white with a slight bluish-green tint, lustrous, clean and elegant, and is a famous flower native to China, with a cultivation history of 2,500 years. Also known as white magnolia, Yingchun flower, and Wangchun tree, it is a deciduous tree of the Magnoliaceae family and Magnolia genus, with a height reaching up to 15 m; when planted in the ground in the north it is generally about 5 m. The crown is rounded and egg-shaped, the winter buds bear large scales, and both the young branches and the outside of the buds are covered with short soft hairs. Cultivated varieties are short in stature with dense branches, and the flowers are large and densely clustered. Seedling plants are tall with straight trunks and sparsely arranged branches, with abundant leaves and sparse flowers, but they have strong adaptability and grow rapidly. The leaves are large, alternate, obovate to long elliptic, with a very short abrupt tip at the apex, a wedge-shaped base, and entire margins without serrations; the leaf surface is glossy and has sparse soft hairs, and the veins on the underside are also covered with soft hairs; the petiole is very short. The flowers are large, borne singly at the top of the branches; the bell-shaped petals are obovate, white, fleshy, and delicately fragrant; the calyx is white and very similar to the petals, with 9 to 15 pieces together with the petals. They open before the leaves in spring, and the flowering period is about 8 to 10 days. The aggregate fruit is cylindrical; the young fruit is green, and after ripening it turns brown and splits open. The seeds hang outside the fruit, connected to the placenta by a thin thread at the hilum; the outer seed coat is red and fleshy, and the inner seed coat is bony; the fruit ripens in October. Varieties include the purple-red magnolia, whose outer tepals are purple-red and inner tepals pale red, opening at the same time as the leaves, and fragrant. Based on the number of petals, whether the tepals are upright or recurved, the width of the petals, flower color, and flowering period, magnolia has been preliminarily summarized into 6 to 11 types.

Magnolia is native to China's Yangtze River basin, and is cultivated most extensively in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Hubei; in modern times the cultivation area has gradually shifted northward, and it is also cultivated in the central and southern parts of North China. Its cold tolerance has a certain limit; Beijing is the northernmost limit for ground planting, where it can only be planted in a small sheltered, sunny environment, and in winter it still needs protection against severe cold and dry winds. It likes a warm, humid environment with side shade, is slightly shade-tolerant, and mature trees prefer more light. It requires humus-rich, fertile, moist, and well-drained neutral and slightly acidic soil, and grows poorly in saline-alkaline soil. Magnolia has a fleshy fibrous root system and likes fertilizer; it fears both waterlogging and drought, so it cannot be planted in low-lying saline-alkaline or dry, barren sites. It has a certain resistance to sulfur dioxide.

Magnolia is relatively sensitive to temperature; the farther south it is, the earlier it blooms. In Beijing it blooms in May, in Henan in April, in Shanghai in March, and in Kunming in February.

It can generally be propagated by sowing, cuttings, layering, and grafting. Sowing is mainly for raising rootstock. Magnolia seeds must undergo about 100 days at 0°C to 7°C low temperature to break dormancy and germinate, and they cannot be dehydrated and stored dry; it is best to sow them in autumn in the open field as soon as they are collected, or store them in sand outdoors over winter and sow in early spring. Hardwood cuttings are very difficult to root; in recent years, softwood heel cuttings tried after the beginning of autumn have been successful. The cutting medium uses half plain sand and half peat soil mixed evenly; the cutting container can be a cutting box or seedling pot. Insert the cuttings, then cover with film to keep warm and moist, and place them under light shade for care; after winter begins, move them into a low-temperature or medium-temperature greenhouse, and they will gradually root in early spring the following year. For layering propagation, in the south people often select vigorous two- to three-year-old branches after the flowers fade, first make a ring girdle, then carry out air layering; they can root in the same year, and in early spring the following year they are cut from the mother plant and planted separately. Grafting is the main method of propagating magnolia. In the south, seedlings or purple magnolia, Magnolia, etc. are often used as rootstock, and cleft grafting is carried out at the Autumn Equinox; the new shoots in early spring the following year can grow to 60 cm to 100 cm by autumn, and they can bloom after 2 to 3 years. It can also be approach-grafted in spring after flowering using Magnolia seedlings and magnolia, and after healing, about 2 months later it can be cut from the mother plant and then removed from the pot for ground planting.

For planting magnolia in a garden, 4- to 5-year-old grafted seedlings should be selected. When lifting the seedlings, a complete soil ball should be kept according to specifications and carefully wrapped; bare-root transplanting cannot survive. The time for spring planting should be after the flowers fade and before the leaves expand; for autumn planting, September is best, so that before winter begins the root wounds can heal and new roots can emerge. To prevent wilting during transplanting, part of the leaves should be pruned before lifting the seedlings to reduce evaporation, but the petioles need to be retained to protect the axillary buds from damage. In the planting hole, apply plenty of fully decomposed organic fertilizer, then cover it with a layer of planting soil so that the fertilizer does not come into direct contact with the root system, to prevent infection and rot.

The callus-forming ability of magnolia branches is relatively weak, so pruning should be minimized unless necessary. If pruning must be done for shaping, it should be carried out after the flowers fade, when the leaf buds have just begun to extend. Fertilizer should be applied twice each year: once between October and November, when a slow-release organic fertilizer is applied in a trench, and once after the flowers fade, when liquid fertilizer is applied together with watering. In the north, before winter begins, the lower half of newly planted (within three years) plants should be earthed up, and the upper half wrapped with straw to protect against severe cold and dry winds. When potted, they should be placed in wooden tubs, and in winter moved into a cold room or cellar to overwinter. Magnolia is a traditionally precious ornamental flower and tree in China. Because it blooms when it has no leaves, when planting it in a garden it is best to use evergreen conifers as a background.

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