Car crashed my young Magnolia

(Question)

A car has crashed and broke completely my beloved young Magnolia. I bought it and planted it in spring. They said at the nursery that it was ready to bloom, but it hasn’t this year. Not surprised, it looked very young to me. I have been giving it a lot of care and love and it has been growing up to 4 feet tall approx. It seems that it is not dead (yet) and I hope that I could do something to help it. Can you please give me any advice? With the current weather, I don’t know what can I do for it besides keep watering daily. I live in Toronto in the High Park area. It receives plenty of sun

(Answer)

Thank-you for contacting Toronto Master Gardeners with your question.

What a shame that your magnolia was so severely damaged. They are, indeed, lovely trees.

It is difficult to determine from the picture you have posted, but the first thing you need to consider is whether the tree is worth saving. If it is so badly damaged that it will not be attractive even if it survives, you may be better off to remove it and start again (since it is very young). If you believe that it can form an attractive specimen, then by all means give it a try. You will need to prune away any dead or hanging branches right away. Make sure that your pruning equipment (secateurs or loppers) are clean and sharp so that you do not cause further damage or introduce disease to your already struggling tree. Further cosmetic pruning to re-shape the tree can be performed next year, in late spring.

The following website gives practical advice on strategies for pruning and reviving damaged trees:

https://agrilife.org/treecarekit/after-the-storm/repairing-storm-damaged-trees/

In terms of general care, it is important to ensure that your tree has sufficient water but daily watering at this time of year is not necessary, and could actually cause problems for the tree.

Good luck and I hope you are able to revive your magnolia!