Confused about Michaelia/Magnolia doltsopa

[Ben in Norcal]

I bought one of these in a 5g a few weeks ago, and I am seeing wildly divergent estimates of ultimate size, and growth rate.  How big do these things really get (I'm in a California environment.)

Appreciate any advice/experience!

[Kevin S]

 Are you talking about this plant?  If so I seen some big ones in Ca.  Here in California it could grow into a huge tree.  They say it never sets seed but somehow my plant did.

[Darold Petty]

Ben, there is a large one here in SF as a street tree with no care from the homeowner.  At the height of  flowering the tree looks like it has snow on the foliage.

  I will try to get you a photo in the next few days. (flowering over for this year)

Kevin, your photo foliage looks a bit too green for M. doltsopa.  Might it be M. champaca, v. Alba ?   

[Ben in Norcal]

  On 4/16/2016 at 3:25 PM, Darold Petty said:

Ben, there is a large one here in SF as a street tree with no care from the homeowner.  At the height of  flowering the tree looks like it has snow on the foliage.

  I will try to get you a photo in the next few days. (flowering over for this year)

Kevin, your photo foliage looks a bit too green for M. doltsopa.  Might it be M. champaca, v. Alba ?   

Expand  

Yes, I thought that was an Alba as well.

Darold, would appreciate a pic when you get a chance.  I bought this plant 5g size at Flora Grubb, and the tag says 20-30 feet, which would be fine...but then I'm seeing reports of this plant getting up to 100 feet.  I doubt it will do that in California, but even if it is a 50-footer, I may not want to plant it.  I have limited real estate, a challenge you are well familiar with!

[BigFrond]

30 ft is the max.  My friend's trees are about 25-30 ft.  He applied lots of fertilizer to get it to look lush.  With less fertilizer, it will be a slender tree. However, this tree is a major leaf litter.  The leaves do not break down fast.  I want to chop mine down every year.

[Josh-O]

I cant wait until mine gets 30'. Its only 6' tall at the moment. even at this age when it flowers I can smell the fragrance from 20' away

[Ben in Norcal]

  On 4/17/2016 at 3:23 AM, Josh-O said:

I cant wait until mine gets 30'. Its only 6' tall at the moment. even at this age when it flowers I can smell the fragrance from 20' away

Expand  

I can't decide if I should plant mine or not.  Still a little concerned about the eventual size...

[Josh-O]

  On 4/17/2016 at 5:06 AM, Ben in Norcal said:

I can't decide if I should plant mine or not.  Still a little concerned about the eventual size...

Expand  

I'm planning on keeping mine trimmed up to about 15' then let it branch from there

[Darold Petty]

HI Ben;  Here are some photos of the M. doltsopa in SF.   It is on Kirkham Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. This has been in place for many years.  The trunk diameter is about 12 inches.  Sorry the images are dark, it was really raining this morning!

 

[Ben in Norcal]

Darold, that is very helpful, thank you for taking the time to get those pics.  That isn't too bad at all, very reasonably sized.

I hope that particular tree doesn't get larger - otherwise PG&E might behead it!

[JasonD]

Ben, that tree on Kirkham is a seedling, planted a long time ago by Dick Turner. It's flowering beautifully, younger than anticipated. Have you seen the big ones at SFBG, where they get lots more water? Amazing trees. One of them is the scaffolding for a Plectocomia himalayana that I donated.