Port wine magnolia growth rate?

[buddinggardener]

When I do research on port wine magnolias it all says they are slow growing. Can anyone tell me how slow? How many centimetres would they grow in a year?

[Jason]

Hi @buddinggardener,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's great to have you join us. We trust you'll get loads of helpful information, advice and inspiration for all your projects around the house and garden from our amazing members. 

We've got a very popular previous discussion about using Port Wine Magnolias as screening that you might be interested in reading. Let me also tag the wonderful @Noelle to see if she might kindly share her thoughts on how quickly the plants will grow.

I note that @Adam_W has previously shared that the key to great looking Port Wine Magnolias trick is pruning – prune early and often to keep them nice and bushy - so that should factor into your calculations...

Please let me know if you ever need a hand getting the most from the site. 

Jason

[Noelle]

Hi @buddinggardener 

Port Wine Magnolia, known as Magnolia figo or Michelia figo will grow to about 3m tall but it could take several years for it to reach this height - possibly up to 5 or 6 years depending on climate, feeding etc. It is considered slow growing when compared with other shrubs/trees that may grow 3m or more in a year, such as pawlonia.

As @Adam_W  has written in reply to another member, regular pruning is the key to growing this plant, to encourage it to bush up and become denser.

If you like Port Wine Magnolia, you may also like the Fairy Magnolias, which are hybrids with similar habit but in a range of flower shades from creamy white through lilac pink to purple.

[Jason]

Thanks for the input @Noelle, much appreciated.

Jason

[Adam_W]

Hey @buddinggardener it's a funny thing... you'll often find them described as slow but in my experience I'd put them in the moderate category.
Simple fact is that 90% of the shrub/small tree type plants we use fro screening will take years to achieve what you need.
Whenever a fast screen is needed, less than 18-months, I generally recommend a clumping bamboo variety that suits the situation.
To speed port wines up make sure soil is good quality. Keep them well-watered in dry times especially but not wet and they love being feed especially with something with lots of organics in it. I'd go Osmocote + Organics

[suequarford]

Hi there,

Mine have grown very nicely over the last 18 months. Not incredibly fast but faster than I expected, probably about 3/4 of a metre tall and similarly wide. They are North East facing and get a lot of sun and of course we've had a lot of rain over the last 6 months. I also make sure I feed them probably every 3 months.

Cheers

Sue