Preserving Magnolia Leaves for the Holidays
Greetings, Thanksgiving survivors! Now that you’re wondering what to do with all of that left-over squirrel, I know you’ll appreciate some helpful holiday decorating tips that will effectively obliterate any free time you have between now and Christmas!
Debbie asks: “We are getting ready to trim some limbs from a scraggly magnolia. I would love to preserve the leaves for Christmas decorating, but I don’t know how to do it effectively and efficiently. I will have ten to fifteen branches of varying lengths to work with. My goal is to preserve them so I can make a garland for my front door or banister. Any quick, cost friendly ideas?”
Answer: If you just want them to look good through the holidays, I would do the following:
1. Wait until the last minute to cut
2. Cut fresh, healthy growth from the ends of the branches
3. Keep the leaves in a cool room out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources
Now, if you want to preserve them long after the holidays are gone, I suggest you use this this link to read very thorough instructions from the Clemson University Extension about using glycerin and a number of other methods to preserve cut material for the holidays. The Grump just loves takinbg advantage of the hard work of others!
I have heard that you can preserve magnolia with anti freeze rather than glycerine.
Is this true? How?
Supposedly, you can place the cut ends of branches in anti-freeze and the branches will absorb it and be preserved. However, as anti-freeze is highly toxic to humans and animals, I don’t recommend using it for this purpose.
the utility company is going to trim back lower branches of my magnolia. should I have them cut the branches at the trunk or will the branch eventually grow back if cut a foot out from the trunk?
Cut magnolia branches usually sprout new growth. However, not if you cut them all the way to the trunk.