What’s wrong with my magnolia

[Hopelessgardener]

I bought a magnolia being sold of cheaply in B&Q but am worried I’m not going to be able to keep it alive, any ideas what’s wrong with it?

How long have you had it?

About 2 weeks

Looks like it's had sunburn to me, but plenty of fresh new growth.

Many of my magnolias lost a lot of leaves and had die back last year in a heat wave, but they've all come back.

Have I done the wrong thing by planting in almost full sun do you think?

Magnolias are generally fine in full sun, but if the plant was in part shade in the nursery/garden center and suddenly went into full sun some of the leaves could suffer. They'd fall off and new ones which are adapted to being in full sun would grow, so that should be OK.

Hello Hopelessgardener,

Depend on where you are in the UK most places have experienced a cold spring therefore the damage to some of the plant cells within some of the leaves on your magnolia are likely to have ruptured resulting in the damage you can see.

Your magnolia otherwise looks very healthy and it will be okay.

Happy gardening
TheSustainableGardener 👩‍🌾