PlantFiles: Southern Magnolia
Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem'

I planted this tree in a north facing patio in fort lauderdale,fl about a year ago. It gets about 6 or 7 hours of full sun in the summer, and no sun in the winter. I fed it as directed in the early spring and have enormous new leaf growth and about 8 blooms already. Does anyone know what is going on? there is so much leaf growth that hasn't laid down yet, the blooms don't have the room to fully open! Any feed back appreciated.
Thanks!

Gorgeous small tree, symmetrical, slow to moderate growth, bronze underside to foliage adds interest, although some don't like it. Very little pruning needed except to remove suckers. Blooms prolifically although blossoms are short lived. We have two.

I highly recommend Little Gem. Stuck in a pot for 5 months it survived hot, wet, dry and dusty, the hurricane winds and still kept blooming. The huge fragrant flowers smell like lemon and I currently have 6 buds right now @ 5', it blooms late spring to fall for me. The only problem is the Japanese Beetles like it too.

According to the tag on the tree (from the nursery) the Little Gem is the fastest growing of them all. Even though it doesn't get that tall (max's out at about 20'), it's supposedly faster growing. I'm curious to know for sure if someone has compared the growth rate.

Dec 6, 2004
Here in Long island on the Sound side next to Queens, this amazing mini-evergreen tree has survived and thrived in some of my zone's (6/7) nastiest weather. This will be its third winter and not one leave has browned or dropped do to the cold. When I purchased my "Little Gem" from a mail-order web site, it was all of 18" tall and already WITH TWO BUDS! I only paid $9 for it ! It has bloomed all three seasons that it has been in the ground. It gives me one or two blooms constantly all growing season but amazingly it's had five blooms at once. These flowers are huge on such a small and young tree. At 5" to 6" each, just one flower open is stunning. In the time it has graced my garden, it has grown to around 4'. As a testiment to Little Gem's blooming season range, it is december 7 and we have not had a major freeze yet and I sill have a huge unopened bud left! I give it full sun from sunrise till 3/4 pm and then its protected by some well established Red Cedars in the later part of the day. I have had catapillers falling from my Oak trees by the hundreds/thousands all dangling and falling to the ground on thier nasty little strands of silk, chewing to the nub anything they land on. Japanese beatles in nightmare numbers wiping out all of my Rose and Hardy Hibiscus' flowers. Ugly green crickets that in late summer make most of my garden's plants leaves look like swiss cheese but with more numerious and dramatic holes. Through all of this my Little Gem doesn't have even a small hole or bite to show. ~~~Happy Gardening!!!~~~
Update: Jan 24, 2009
Height = 6'
width = 5'
Flowers profusely from late may till frost. I dead head all flowers the second they are spent. Eight years and no problems despite all the nasty weather and bugs Long Island NY has had to through at it.

The Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association has just chosen this plant to be one of it's "Plant of the Year" This program was established in 1998 by the FNGA to promote underused but proven plant material. For a plant to be considered a Florida Plant of the Year, it must have good pest resistance, require reasonable care and be fairly easy to grow.

I purchased a 'little gem' shortly after they became available at local nurseries 9 years ago and had extremely good results with it. in spite of planting it near the canopy of a water oak. it is probably 12-14 feet tall now and other than the usual "leaf litter" i would recommend it. i also started one from seed (very easy to do)2 years ago and it is about 2 feet tall in a pot. the fact that i live in so. louisiana (which is similar to the tropics) probably benefits the rate of growth. they are extremely popular down here and are beautiful planted as an evergreen screen or in groups of three.

'Little Gem' is a popular cultivar. It is more compact and slower growing than the species, usually reaching about half the height of the species. Height in the northern part of its range ( zones 6 and 7 ) will be closer to 15' to 25' and in warmer areas may approach 40'. The leaves are also about half the size of the species while the flowers are approximately the
same full size as the species.