Thanks! I guess that may explain why I haven't seen any activity. I thought maybe it was a dud haha.

I can't really tell the scale of your picture. How big is that fence behind the tree? Mine was in a 15 gallon pot and is about 8-9 tall right now. It has a tuft of branches that's probably 3 feet across. I'm hoping it fills out a bit this year because I want it to block our bedroom window from the apartment building next door. I'll be curious to see what happens come May (or maybe sooner since you're in a colder area).

Do you fertilize at all?

Colder now...in January!! Much, much hotter here in the growing season and throughout the Summer into Autumn (especially in recent years).

They like heat, humidity and a lot of rain. They are subtropical, but will deal quite well with subarctic cold (in the dormant season). They need warmth and rain to really grow.

The fence is six feet tall. I also use them to provide privacy, so there is a row of seven of mixed cultivars.

P.S., I apply HollyTone in the Spring (March), otherwise nothing else.

You picked a slow grower. I have one that I planted when Madonna was a virgin.
One big drawback with them is...I'm in a warmer part of the bay area,and SS far from covers itself in flowers. The ones they do have are huge- dinner plates.- and also very short lived. One day there,the next falling apart;
They do have glossy leaves,and with the height of smaller evergreen Magnolias,makes a nice small to medium sized tropical looking tree. And once they get well rooted,drought tolerant.

Shoot... I researched them online and was told by the woman at the nursery that Magnolia Grandiflora are moderate growers and Samual Sommers are one of the fastest growing varieties. Argh.

How much growth do you see per year? Do you think it'll help that mine is already 9 ft tall? I really just need the branches to spread out (don't need more height).

I see them EVERYWHERE in Berkeley and most of them are pretty substantial in size. I guess all of them must have been planted quite awhile ago.

If mine filled out to look like njoasis's above I think I'd be pretty happy.

I think you have to consider some important factors in determining how much the tree expands horizontally. One is the particular culitivar.

I see big differences here, some cultivars will grow branches literally pressed against the ground, and others are much more vertical. Other important factors are climate (heat zone, rainfall, etc.) and soil conditions. Here, I would classify most grandifloras as 'moderate' growers, not slow.

I had one cultivar, which I would classify as FAST, but unfortunately, it did not cope well with...heavy, wet snow, then Hurricane Sandy. (It was a 'Green Giant', nice, but they have almost no brown fuzz on the leaf underside, which I think is an attractive characteristic.)

The one is the picture is the cultivar 'Victoria' (developed in B.C., Canada). Leaf buds are reddish (as on Ficus elastica).
It and my 'Edith Bogues' will put out good horizontal growth.
My Teddy Bears are very vertical.

I could tell the one in the above photo was 'Victoria'. The origin of the cultivar is unknown - it may even have been selected and named in Britain.

'Samuel Sommer' is not a small grower, it takes a heavy top growth to produce those sometimes huge flowers. A Seattle property on a busy through route has one of these and a Majestic Beauty = 'Monlia' planted side-by-side; both are about the same size - and were probably planted at the same time, too.

Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed, Berkeley) describes 'Samuel Sommer' as "Robust, upright, densely clothed". Same author has recognized and measured examples in Seattle 35 ft. tall (~2005).

I don't know about Seattle. But Chris seeing slow growth is what I remember too. It took much longer then say a little gem to look full.
Its strong points are..big tree look in medium tree. Although after a couple of decades it can get substantial. Low water need. It is a surface rooter..but I don't see much lifting. Try and dig under though, and that's impossible!
I've given thoughts of cutting it down. Like all Magnolia grandiflora's those hard leaves and the cones are a big mess.