Welcome to GoY.
First thoughts - I think you have two diffent varieties. We're they sold as the same, from the same supplier?

Smaller one is definitely a magnolia and just needs a few more years to grow into something special. Good mulches with organic material will help - it might be a bit close to the fence in the long term. Bear in mind that this will grow into a tree and will probably want to spread 4-5 metres.

The larger tree could be anything - difficult to tell at the size of the photo, I can see buds coming but whether they are leaf or flower i can't make out. Could you add another couple of pics close up of the buds (click on the "update question" button)

PS best to remove your email address (using the update button)

I would say the one in the back garden seems a little near the fence... but is certainly doing what a magnolia should. As Urbanite says difficult to tell if the tree in your front garden is actually a magnolia, if what you have is M grandiflora then it is going to grow into a very large tree.

Agree - Best move it when dormant later in the year or it will have your fence over in a few years!

Afterthought - could you post another photo of the one in the front garden when it has come into leaf? Does the label say what variety it is?

Hi, welcome to GoY, whatever you have in your front garden, it isn't Magnolia grandiflora, that 1 is evergreen, but I do agree with Mg about the size, they can grow anything up to 60 ft tall, with a spread of up to 50ft, but are not fully hardy in the UK, Derek.

There was a magnolia in my mother's front garden. I don't recall it being there when I was a child 50+ years ago. So I can only think that she planted it after I'd left home in the mid-70s as it was definitely there when I moved back to the Midlands in the mid-80s as a good sized tree about 15 ft high x 15ft spread. It probably got to 20ft high by 2010 (it wouldn't surprise me if the new owners of her house had chopped it down - it was glorious for a week or two in April when it was in flower but blocked a lot of light out of the room for the next 6 months.

Something is restricting the roots of the back garden tree. Healthy young Magnolias usually take several years growing roots and leaves before blooming, even if they were blooming in the container when you bought them. If grown from seed, they can take as long as 20! Present lack of bloom on the front garden tree may just be a sign that it is happy.