Wow, our magnolia flowered months ago! 4 Days is a reasonable amount of time for an individual flower to last.

Hi Villager,

Yes, that is the normal flowering pattern for M. grandiflora. Unlike the spring flowering (and the deciduous summer flowering) Magnolias grandiflora produces a few flowers at a time for an extemely long period - often 6 months or more, depending on the variety.

Magnolias do not generally take very well to pruning, often responding by producing very long, vigorous water shoots that spoil the overall shape of the plant. If you need to keep your grandiflora to a certain size then then this should be tackled in late winter. Take out any crossing branches to improve the shape and then cut over-long branches back evenly to a strong pair of buds.

.thanks. really helpful comments.