Magnolias generally don't require pruning and would only ever need trimming to cut them back from paths etc

But our evergreen Magnolia is huge, Andy, and taking up a third of the garden. Please can I prune it? This year has been the first in 13 when it has flowered profusely. Unfortunately the large waxy flowers only last a day. It was a present so I don't want to lose it.

It's not a magnolia grandiflora is it? If so they do grow huge and have large dinner plate sized fragrant flowers which bloom in summer. They can be cut back at your peril as it might take another 8 years to produce blooms again after radical pruning.

Sorry agree with Cammomile if it is M grandiflora then pruning will almost guarantee no flowers for years - tree will simply sulk!

Having said that you did say it was a miniature.

Sorry. I seem to have hi-jacked Dturners question- the original one was about a miniature.
Many thanks, people, it seems we may need to put up with our Grandiflora........or move house !!!

Rosie if you have a small garden a M grandiflora is going to become impossible to live with - what height is it now?

Dturner and Rosiebeck, if you do prune it, selectively prune the longer branches back to side branches, leaving as many branch tips as possible, since that is where the flower buds form. If you take it back too severely, it usually will recover, but expect it to need several years to start blooming again.
MG, I would consider the varieties 'Little Gem' and 'Teddy Bear' to be suitable for a small garden with regular (once every other year) maintenance pruning, as outlined above. 'St. Mary's' could also work, but will be more likely to get out of control, if a pruning or two is missed.

Our Grandiflora is as tall as the house behind, Moon growe. The leaf drop is a big problem, especially as we have a pond nearby.
We will take your advice, Tugbrethil, and prune it very very carefully- in the Autumn ?
Many thanks.
Off on holiday now....dare we leave the garden ?????

Rosiebeck, the ideal time to prune is just after the first flush of bloom in early summer. Pruning at other times--no less than a month before first frost--should be safe, but may reduce the subsequent bloom.