If a Southern Magnolia in zone 8 has yellowing/dropping leaves, is it dying?

Magnolia is mature. Foliage very thin top 1/3 of tree. Yellowing/dropping leaves last year, but worse this year. Is setting some blooms, but not all over tree. Can this tree be saved? It is about 8 feet from foundation of our home.

If a Southern Magnolia in zone 8 has yellowing/dropping leaves, is it dying?
It sounds like it needs some food (worst case scenario, she broke a root).





and my book says they rarely do well for long next to a driveway. They are known for having surface roots, so maybe she wants a little more good soil around her feeder roots. Good stuff like compost or other healthy mulches (worm castings, manures, grass clippings, etc.).





Yellow leaves are usually low nitrogen or low iron or low zinc (or overwatering which is a cause of washing away the nutrients)





and we've been getting a lot of rain





magnolias are not a fan of waterlogged roots either, and the run off from your roof may be contributing to her soaking. They can't take a lot of drought but they don't like standing water at all.





Try feeding her micronutrients and a fertilizer with plenty of nitrogen in it. Nitrogen is not a long lasting fertilizer usually though, so mulches and worms is the best long term solution. Adding organic materials and organisms will help aerate your soil as well and so the water will run off in a more user friendly manner (magnolia friendly manner, that is).





a good (and fast acting) source of micronutrients is kelp/seaweed





'ironite' is ok for iron (or rusty water)





nitrogen comes in fish fertilizer ($3.50 walmart, made from fish, not for fish)





and then if you use mulches and worms, then maybe add rock fertilizers too (for long acting action). stuff like 'greensand', granite, rock potash and/or phosphorus rock (sometimes called raw rock phosphate, or soft) and there are others.





since some of the top growth might not recover then you might want to prune. if you do prune, then do so AFTER the intial blooms have come out, but before the other growth starts; usually this is shortly before July.





magnolias only, other trees get pruned at different times





prune according to the desires you find within yourself as well as the structures of the new buds you will find. The new buds are next year's flowers.