Are magnolias good for bonsai?...

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I dug a seedling tulip poplar out of a blueberry row last year, it did not leaf out yet. Maybe it will, but it's getting late, might have expired. I didn't get much roots.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Okay, I searched my files, did not find a picture of tulip poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera as bonsai. I did find a few snaps of other magnolias. Not that except for one held in hand, all are fairly large, over 3 feet tall or wide, or over 1 meter tall or wide. As you can see, magnolia stellata is the one that is trained to be tree like, the other larger leaf varieties are more or less abstract props for the huge flowers, rather than going for ''tree''.

First is a photo I scarfed from internet and did not save attribution or other info.


The next is from Owen Reich, his tree photo from his blog in 2014, after summer clean up and wiring. It is between 36 and 48 inches tall, I neglected to note the height.



Next is a photo from William Valvanis, I did not ask if I could re-post it, but he took this image while travelling in Japan 2015
The tree belongs to Isamu & Yukio Murata, at Fuo-en Nursery.
It is Magnolia yulan, and it is 40 inches tall, about 1.1 meters tall. The Yulan magnolia has very large leaves.


This is the same Yulan magnolia as above when on display at the Omiya Bonsai Museum, William Valvanis 2014 image.


Last is Magnolia stellata, at the National Bonsai Collection, Washington DC, this image I saved to my machine in 2011, I neglected to record the author. It was from a blog from there at the time, I apologize for not giving credit. I believe the tree is still part of the National Collection to this day.

 

[just.wing.it]

Okay, I searched my files, did not find a picture of tulip poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera as bonsai. I did find a few snaps of other magnolias. Not that except for one held in hand, all are fairly large, over 3 feet tall or wide, or over 1 meter tall or wide. As you can see, magnolia stellata is the one that is trained to be tree like, the other larger leaf varieties are more or less abstract props for the huge flowers, rather than going for ''tree''.

First is a photo I scarfed from internet and did not save attribution or other info.
View attachment 145046

The next is from Owen Reich, his tree photo from his blog in 2014, after summer clean up and wiring. It is between 36 and 48 inches tall, I neglected to note the height.
View attachment 145047


Next is a photo from William Valvanis, I did not ask if I could re-post it, but he took this image while travelling in Japan 2015
The tree belongs to Isamu & Yukio Murata, at Fuo-en Nursery.
It is Magnolia yulan, and it is 40 inches tall, about 1.1 meters tall. The Yulan magnolia has very large leaves.
View attachment 145048

This is the same Yulan magnolia as above when on display at the Omiya Bonsai Museum, William Valvanis 2014 image.
View attachment 145049

Last is Magnolia stellata, at the National Bonsai Collection, Washington DC, this image I saved to my machine in 2011, I neglected to record the author. It was from a blog from there at the time, I apologize for not giving credit. I believe the tree is still part of the National Collection to this day.

View attachment 145050

Those are awesome...
I dug up a 1-2 year old Tulip Poplar seedling this spring. They're in the magnolia family. Don't know if will ever amount to anything, but I figured its a fun play thing.
I actually didn't dig it, I ripped it out of the ground barehanded, and cut off a foot long tap root.
4 days later it leafed out and has been growing well so far.
I'll get it established in good bonsai soil for a year or 2, then bare root it and go full Ebihara mode, and plant back in the ground to thicken up, and begin trunk chopping.
I'd actually love to make something nice with it, since I've never seen a tulip poplar used for bonsai, however it will take a solid decade......so I'll keep you posted.

 

[shinmai]

I stopped at a garden store on Friday, and they were just unloading a bunch of shrubs that had arrived from a grower. There is now a magnolia stellata in my dining room, four and a half feet tall, and it started blooming this morning. After it is done flowering, it will reduce down to a nice central trunk--root base is 4" wide, trunk is 2", and where it starts branching at 14-16" from the soil it's still a little over an inch. The blossoms are of a size that sort of necessitates a larger tree, but they are just gorgeous.

 

[Random User]

Spring is that nasty time of year when it's getting warmer and all I can do is "want" for something to work on, but can't, and I fail to remember how much work I already have ahead of me. Here I am re-assessing a hand full of plant prospects for the coming season when I "should know" that I'm already swamped with loads of work in the waiting. A loss of a significant number of trees last spring thinned my workload, so I should take it as a positive outcome and an opportunity focus on what I have left... but still, here I am thinking that I have some empty pots/boxes, far too much imagination, and some disposable cash on hand... what to buy?... I'm still liking this magnolia thing... hmmmmmm...

 

[Random User]

@shinmai

Your purchase sounds like an interesting prospect... have fun!

 

[Driftwood]

http://bonsaiunearthed.com/tag/magnolia/

Sorce

Thank you for the info link, there is very little information about magnolia bonsai. All I have found or seen at the moment is:
Magnolia bonsai in japanese: モクレン盆栽
little info doing Google search from which this is OK : https://www.bonsaimyo.com/sodatekata/detail/106/

Harry Harrington:

Magnolia Bonsai Species Guides

Large Website located in the UK, Bonsai4me offers Bonsai Art, Species guides for Bonsai trees, Bonsai galleries and Bonsai Techniques.

www.bonsai4me.com

Bonsai empire:

Care guide for Star magnolia Bonsai (Magnolia stellata) - Bonsai Empire

Magnolia Bonsai Care guidelines Placement Magnolias like to be placed in full sun or semi-shade. They are frost-hardy, but should be protected from strong frost...

www.bonsaiempire.com

Nice post from ibonsaiclub:

Star Magnolia

the owner got this tree from golden state bonsai collection north auction in 2003. it came from nursery stock. we cut the top off in 2005. and then grow new

ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com

Nice bonsai nuts post:

Magnolia liliiflora

Also purchased this year when the buds were amazingly purple. The flowers are great but the tree was more beautiful just before they opened due to the contrast between the purple and the bark. It was a fresh important from Japan And the best of tree at the nursery. The other had larger unhealed...

www.bonsainut.com

An interesting link comparing 3 popular varieties leaves:

Magnolia liliiflora | Landscape Plants | Oregon State University

landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu

From Michael Hagedorn:

Deciduous Early Development Part II: Magnolia

An infrequently used deciduous genus for bonsai, Magnolia nonetheless offers a unique, bold personality among our ranks of status-quo Tridents and Elms. Most commonly used for bonsai is Star Magnol…

crataegus.com

From William Valavanis:

Magnolia Bonsai

While most bonsai fanciers in our great country are finished with transplanting and now defoliating and trimming deciduous bonsai, we in the frigid Upstate New York area are still dancing with movi…

valavanisbonsaiblog.com

International bonsai magazine 2007/No1 (unfortunately not easily available in Europe)

And my favourite from Udo Fisher at the Trophy 2020, photo from bonsai German website (no permission but just pasted link)

https://www.facebook.com/122129194473446/photos/a.656226831063677/3039352392751097