I have a mature magnolia in my garden and today a "gardener" came to prune my bushes and when i went out i found he had cut my magnolia down to about a third. What are its chances please??
Is it evergreen or deciduous? (Magnolias can be either).
If I've read the information on the RHS website correctly, evergreens can withstand hard pruning, so your magnolia should be OK. However deciduous magnolias are less tolerant:
http://apps.rhs.org.u.../Profile.aspx?pid=599
Thank you Chris i read the web site you suggested and I think I will most likely lose my tree. It is deciduous and already looks sorry for itself. Thanks for your help Janet
How mature?
What is the trunk diameter 1M from ground?
It might be ok .. they can withstand heavy pruning.
Why did he do it without asking? Misunderstanding? .. or idiot?
If the pruning, although hard, was done correctly, the tree will probably be ok.There is a beautiful specimen near me and was hard pruned about three years ago. We thought at the time that it was too much but it has bounced back bigger then before and just as beautiful.
I pruned several 4-6" boughs out of a customers last year .. as trees and hedge-laying are a sideline .. mainly to open it up a bit .. but without changing it's shape.
That one is about 40 years old .. ish and 25ft.
Thank you all for your answers. I feel a bit better about it now. Yes it was a misunderstanding, I had asked him to cut down a prunus and a red robin next to the magnolia and he must have thought I included it. However if he knew anything about gardening he probably should have asked me to be sure thats what i meant, Thanks again for taking the time x Janet