Introduction To Little Gem Magnolia
Little Gem Magnolia is a cultivar of its native Southern Magnolia plant. It is notable from the typical southern Magnolia because of its volume. Little Gem Magnolia is a dwarf mutant of the standard southern magnolia. Magnolia comes from the family of Magnoliaceae.
Scientific Name: Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’
The size of the leaves and flowers of little gem magnolia are smaller in comparison to the southern magnolia. They’re also ordinarily known as ‘dwarf southern magnolias‘ or ‘large-flowered magnolia‘. The Little Magnolia grows into a pyramidal shaped plant which is thick and dark green due to which it is favoured for the hedge planting. The little gem magnolia is a preferred plant for patios, gardens or as a backyard plant due to its small height, low maintenance and lovely floral aroma. Little Gem Magnolia is a native to North America.
Plant Specifications
- The plant is a dwarf and slow grower. It can only reach up to a maximum height of 15 to 20 feet and 7 to 10 feet wide. Since little gem is a dwarf of a giant, it still looks big.
- They’re tolerant to sandy soil, clay soil, loamy soil but prefer a little acidic pH. It requires a good amount of water in the initial year of development.
- The leaves are evergreen, morphologically shiny green from the top and brown coloured, hairy from the base. Leaves are arranged alternately on the stem.
- The flowers are comparatively larger in size, showy, are of white colour and impart a great fragrance.
- Little Magnolia is a low maintenance plant.
- The seeds are red coloured and are present in an oval-shaped part of the flower, also sometimes called a cone.
- The tree is not well tolerant of the salt and should not be planted in coastal areas.
- It blooms from the month of May to July.
- It requires full sun for high performance.
Root System Of Little Gem Magnolia
Little Gem Magnolia have a deep growing Taproot system with smaller roots expanding out from the taproot. Just as the plant, the root also takes time to grow and to spread fully. The roots of Little Gem Magnolia appear from the radicle of the embryo of the germinating seed.
They have one central root from which parallel root branches arise. Upon germination, the initial root that emerges from the embryo radicle is the principal cylindrical root, known as the primary root which stretches vertically earthward. From the main root, first-order roots arise, known as the secondary roots. And then from these secondary roots, the second-order roots arise known as the tertiary roots. On the apex of tertiary roots, there are present light hair-like structures known as the Rootlets. The Primary root is the most rugged, most populous and most far-reaching of all.
The roots progressively become tapered towards the peak. The roots of Little Gem Magnolia tend to be deep-rooted and are tough to uproot. These roots grow in acropetal sequence, that is, the blossoming is present on the growing end while maturest towards the base. Rootlets are very sensitive arrangements and are the terminal branches. They are accountable for major water intake in the plant. Primary roots always grow in the vertical orientation while secondary and tertiary roots grow in the horizontal orientation.
The roots of Little Gem Magnolia have a characteristic of wide-spreading, stretching from trunk to a span of four times the umbrella diameter but they’re non-invasive.
Uses of Little Gem Magnolia
- Little Gem Magnolia is a popular ornamental plant choice due to its dwarf size and low keeping excellent flashy flowers and its enjoyable fragrance.
- It is used as a standout landscape specimen for the decks and patios.
- It is fancied as hedge planting for its thick and dark green colour and pyramidal frame of the canopy.
I’m thinking of planting the Little Gem magnolia tree 13 to 14 ft. from my above ground vinyl swimming pool that is in the ground about 3 & 1/2 ft. just 13 ft from what will be the trunk of the tree. the swimming pool does have galvanized 3/16 the to 1/8 inch thick metal protection going around the whole height of the pool all the way around the pool. As protection of the vinyl from outside of the pool, and probably as support for the pool. My question is: that they say the root system of this tree extends about 4 times the canopy size, but that this root is mainly a tap root and that the other roots are more less secondary roots and then even smaller roots after that. Do you think that the roots of this tree from 13ft from trunk will more or less be under the 3 & 1/2 for bottom of pool, or small enough that they will not have any effect on the pool vinyl since roots would encounter the galvanized metal coated with tar which is on the outside of the vinyl.
I have a 4 ft. above ground vinyl swimming pool in the ground 3 & 1/2 ft deep, and I’m thinking of planting a little gem magnolia tree about 13 feet from the side of the swimming pool. The pool does have about 3/16ths or 1/8th inch of metal siding around the outside of the vinyl all the way around outside of the pool. I read that the root system of the little gem magnolia spreads out 4 times the width of the trees canopy. Do you think that by the time the roots had spread a distance of 13-14 feet from the base of the tree that the roots would have any affect on the pool or the vinyl of the swimming pool ? Or do you think that the roots would be lower than the 3 & 1/2ft. at that point or small enough that it would not have a negative affect on the pools vinyl
Guessing I am at “wrong” site ??
Am looking for opinion on best root fertilizer for 5 little gem trees which are stressed – thanks
I am looking for a tree data base that builders can easily use to determine where to plant a specific tree. For example, if they wanted to plant a Red Maple, they would enter that into the search field and it would generate the specifications for that tree, to include root system diameter.
Can you point me in the right direction?
Question:
Will the roots system disturb my driveway if planted 5 feet from it?