What dimensions are you looking for, and why? None of those you list are expected to produce a narrow tree, except I think the 'Sunburst'. And trees is what they all are, eventually of some size - even the shrubbiest magnolias often get over 10 ft. tall in time. I have seen more than one star magnolia in this region that was well over 20 ft. tall. (And these are true star magnolias, not Loebner or Kobus magnolias).

If the collection there is still intact and publicly accessible you can see Kosar and De Vos hybrid magnolias (the series with womens' names like 'Ann', 'Judy', 'Rickie', 'Susan' etc.) big enough to sit under at the OSU experiment station in Aurora, near the freeway. These are from crosses between lily and star magnolias, seen and sold as shrubs at garden centers.

I have a privacy hedge along the back of my property and there is a gap on one corner. Height is not a factor. The width of the space is no more than 12ft wide. That is why I wanted a more columnar tree. I do realize that plants will conform to their surroundings in some cases. I would like for it to fill in the area and form a screen.

Then I would think you would want a compact M. grandiflora cultivar. Much-planted 'Little Gem' is the choice that pops up but it has breakage, disease (mildew) and hardiness issues here in the North - I would look for one of the other, more compact and fine-textured (smaller leaved) selections that are on the market. I like the foliage and branching of 'Bracken's Brown Beauty', but I don't know that that can be expected to remain particularly small.

If you browse some independent garden centers, later in the year, after the season is more advanced and fresh M. grandiflora stock has been getting trucked in from California* the plants should be easy to spot.

*Maybe ask now when this is going to be

Thank you very much. "Teddy Bear" is one that I think would work as well?

I have no frame of reference for [Teddy Bear] = 'Southern Charm' so it either hasn't been at outlets here or I forgot about seeing it. At any rate I can't comment on its performance - with any and all M. grandiflora snow resistance is a critical feature for this area, if a particular kind can't hold up under slush then half the tree can be lost in short order. 'Little Gem' for instance I have seen broken in half along a horizontal line about half way up, after growing maybe 12 ft. tall. Another catastrophic example was an 'Edith Bogue' - recommended for its winter tolerance - stripped of every side branch, left standing there looking like the arm-less statue of Venus. It instantly came apart a soon as it had the weight of melting snow on it.

Historically the ones that resist breakage here are the comparatively compact and bushy growing ones like 'St. Mary' and 'Victoria' - although some 'Victoria' flanking the south-facing entrance to an office building I have been frequenting in Bellevue aren't very dense at all.

These two local stalwarts aren't small-growing enough to fit in your space anyway. I'd look at the 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' as it has the same style of branching as these, but with a nicely smaller leaf - and perhaps a smaller habit, judging from how stock I have seen offered here looks (it should be easy enough to look it up and see what the history of it is, including how big it has gotten elsewhere).

I checked on 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' and it looks perfect for the spot. I really appreciate your advice. I will check again at my nursery and see if they had that one. They had some really nice trees already at about 6 and 7 ft. tall. Most were the yellow flowered ones that I mentioned earlier. I would prefer an evergreen though.

In this part of the country the M. grandiflora we are likely to be offered are those that Monrovia has. 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' is one of them. I see the 'Southern Charm' is on their menu as well - I kind of thought it was but I couldn't remember it specifically.

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/search/?query=magnolia+grandiflora

A local large independent garden center had a rose I ordered ready for me today - while I was there I went and looked at their Southern magnolias. Most of their current offering is the [Teddy Bear] = 'Southern Charm'. I like the cute leaves but I don't know about the narrow branch angles and how they will hold up under wet snow loads.

A 5 gallon pot is 65 dollars plus tax.

Which one is it?

I haven't grown any evergreen magnolias, but isn't it possible to prune for snow load, like shorten the branches so they don't carry so much?

Mike

I checked yesterday at my local nursery and the only evergreen magnolia they have is Little Gem. They have quite a number of the deciduous ones. I will keep looking.

Ask what southern magnolias they are going to get later - it's only February* - or try other vendors. They probably only have the 'Little Gem' because that is traded so much and they had some left from last year.

*We just had another frost here last night

I will do that! We had a heavy frost here too!

isn't it possible to prune for snow load, like shorten the branches

There's a tradition of growing the species as an espalier in England. In keeping with this the Molbak's independent garden center in Woodinville, WA used to have a 'Little Gem' trained against a wall. And in places like Italy sometimes large, free-standing examples are often closely pruned to have geometric outlines. But I'm not sure that even with these topiary style ones wet snow wouldn't produce large gaps if the trees were situated farther north.