Like the title says: do magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) flowers reduce down, or are they stuck on “huge”?
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I believe I am right in saying that you can’t reduce flower size.
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Flowers and fruit do not reduce through standard bonsai practice. I’ve always thought it funny when I think about making a bonsai out of my neighbor’s magnolia tree. Just think of the challenges involved in reducing the flower of a tree where “Gigantic Flower” is part of the name. That doesn’t stop me from looking at all the magnolia trees hoping to find some dwarf sport sprouting from a random branch.
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We’re in exactly the same position. There are some great-looking Midnight Bonsai Society targets in my normal day to day life. I keep thinking: “gosh, maybe if it were an omono…”
Let me know if you find a dwarf sprouting somewhere! 
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My wife has a magnolia stellata which has been in a pot for about 15 years. She wants to get rid of it so in the spring I will start it’s journy to Bonsai. Flowers are about 30-40mm diameter. It’s a slow growing variety.
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I’m thinking about starting a GoFundMe page for the Midnight Bonsai Society’s “Capital Improvement Campaign”. First up on the MBS wish list is a 100" tree spade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEkZk8dagzQ
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What a monster! And now I’m imagining the root ball reduction process with a root ball taller than I am.
I appreciate it! But the Magnolia stellata are very different than Magnolia grandiflora, and the real charm of the project would be having a very tiny tree with reduced versions of some of the largest flowers in the world.
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@BillsBayou at work we routinely plant trees with 90" rootballs, we also partner with a guy that has a 110" spade truck. Also we hand dig rootballs up to 14 feet diameter and 4 to 5 foot deep. Makes for some fun days at work. We dig and move Japanese Maples more than anything else. Here is one of a pair of big oaks we planted this spring, used a 110 ton crane to set them.
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