12+ year old jacaranada tree that has never bloomed

[Walt]

I once posted about this before, maybe 2-3 years ago, and don't recall what the feedback was.

Sometime back in early 2000 I bought and planted a jacaranda (assume mimosifolia species), shown in photo #1 below. Photo #2 shows this jacaranda tree as it looks today.

I like the tree for it's shape and foliage, but the problem is, it's never, ever bloomed. Not even on lousy bloom.

Every spring my wife (she loves almost any plant that blooms with flowers) anticipate seeing our jacaranda tree's first bloom, and every spring we are always disappointed, for there is never any blooms.

Two years ago I had finally had enough and bought a small Jacaranda mimosifolia from Crowley's Nuersery in Sarasota County, Florida. Kathy Crowley, co-owner, assured me this jacaranda tree would bloom (I told her about my other tree not blooming).

Well, I planted the new jacaranda tree during the spring of 2010. However, December of 2010 I experienced the coldest radiational freeze ever in my 14+ years living here, where my open yard low dropped to 20.8 degrees F. My small jacaranda tree got all it's limbs frozen back to the trunk.

But as spring of 2011 came, new growth started to emerge and the tree grew nicely. It went through the winter of 2011-2012 without cold damage. Well, lo and behold, yesterday I noticed my little jacaranda tree had a beautiful bloom on it. I took the below photos of it and emailed them to my wife at work so she could see them on her smart phone.

Note: a buddy of mine gave me a small jacaranda tree he no longer wanted and I planted it right next to my other small jacaranda tree, so that's why there are two trees in the 3rd photo below.

While I am over joyed now that my small jacaranda tree has finally bloomed, albeit late, and hopefully there are more blooms to come, and surely there will be more next year as the tree grows larger -- I'm sitll disappointed that my bigger tree has never bloomed. At this point I have given up on it and resigned myself just to enjoy the tree for what it is.

Above photo: Small jacaranda tree I planted out in early 2000.

Above photo: Same jacaranda tree as in above photo, only 12+ years later. This tree has never bloomed.

Above photo: I planted this small jacaranda mimosifolia tree in the spring of 2010, as described in above text. The small jacaranda tree behind it was once a grafted J. jasminoides (that died, leaving only the J. mimosifolia root stock) a friend gave me.

Above photo: A close up of the first bloom from my small jacaranda tree.

[DoomsDave]

Walt:

We've got tons of them around here, and some of them just don't want to bloom, kind of like Ferdinand the Bull just didn't want to fight. I think.

I know this isn't helpful. There is more than one species of "Jack" and some definitely like a moist climate like yours better than others.

[MattyB]

Walt,

I'm no Jacaranda expert by any means, but we have a lot of them here in SoCal, and I've been admiring them for many years. Even your large tree still has that juvenille look to it and they tend not to flower until they start to get the "adult look". The "adult look" is basically many small, complex branches the higher and higher you go into the canopy. If you keep getting long structural branches I suspect that it's getting too much fertilizer and/or too much water. Once it's established, Jacaranda requires no irrigation, here in CA, with less than 10" rain anually. In fact, less water often makes them bloom more. So don't water it, don't prune it, and don't give up hope yet.

[Walt]

Dave and Matty: I've been on Google street scene in the LA area and saw beautiful, outstanding jacaranda trees lining the streets. The drier climate there, I believe, is the reason for the great bloom.

My larger tree is never irrigated, period. The only time it was irrigated was the first couple of months to get it established. The tree is not fertilized, either. But my point is, I've seen small Jacaranda mimosifolia trees (maybe 10 gallon size at most) with lots of blooms on it, that's why I don't understand why my larger one has never produced a single bloom. Further, you see that my small one did put out one bloom after only two years in the ground.

I've read many flowering types of trees, like Jacaranda, Delonix regia et al. bloom far better after going through a dry winter.

I have a Peltophorum africanum tree that's only bloomed once, about 3-4 years ago. Since then not one bloom. Otherwise the tree is normal.

Every year I watch all the other local jacaranda trees bloom and wonder when mine will finally do the same.

Above photo: This jacaranda tree was growing up the hill in town. I took this photo several days to a week before maximum bloom.

Unfortunately, this tree was destroyed by Hurrican Jeanne back in 2004.

[MattyB]

Well, another option is to hit it with some big bloom fertilzer high in Phosphorus, n-P-k. I have a Plumeria that refused to bloom in the 5 years it's been in the ground. I hit it two times this year with a high P fertilzer and finally it flowered.

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

Well, Walt, your picture demonstrates that it's not the climate, that's for sure. And I, like you, have seen small Jacks in full bloom. Back in ancient times, when I managed the cave-nursery, we sold dozens of them in 5-gallon pots with blossoms on plants no more than 5-6 feet tall.

Matty's thoughts make me offer a suggestion: perhaps prune one of your long branches back a bit and see if it makes those "complex" branches Matt was talking about.

I guess a bit of fertilizer won't hurt, though it's awful hard to fertilize a tree as big as the one in your second picture.

And, finally, I wonder if this has anything to do with the demise of your Washies? Perhaps there's a connection?

P.S.: WALT, what's that big, fat, green tree in the background behind the big (late) jacaranda? A live oak? Whatever it is, it's bitchen, as ve say in dees country . . . .

[Walt]

Matty and Dave: I've used that bloom buster (or whatever it's called) on my Plumeria obtusa, but I have my doubts extra P will stimulate my non blooming jacaranda. Now if it was just producing sparse blooms, then maybe extra P would help. I'm not saying it won't help, but I'm not going to spend money trying to make the tree bloom. I will let nature take her course.

Dave, I'm not sure what green tree you are referring to. There's nothing special here.

If my jacaranda does ever bloom, I will let you guys know.

Above photo: A reverse view (from my first photo of it) of my non blooming jacaranda tree.

Above photo: Plant sign and tracfone for scale to show size of trunk of jacaranda tree. It's not a big tree, but not really a juvenile anymore, either.

Above photo: My Peltophorum africanum tree. I grew this tree from a seedling. It's only bloomed once, about three, maybe four years ago. Why I don't know; this tree is only about 30 feet from my non blooming jacaranda. There is a Peltophorum dubium (you can see some of the branches on the left of photo) growing nearby, and it can go years and not bloom. It did bloom somewhat this past year, but it wasn't full. I have a large P. dubium that bloomed profusely this early summer.

Above photo: One the other hand, these weedy Cassia alta have no problem blooming. All these are volunteers from dropped seed near my old burn pile. I would stack up lots of tree litter and debris and burn it once the pile got big enough. So many of the Cassia alta were coming up this spring I had to mow them down with my lawn tractor. But the point is, my soil is poor, but these plants must be getting all they need, as they are getting total neglect.

[Walt]

I forgot to post the below photo in my previous posting. This is another jacaranda tree I have that has never bloomed. I grew this one from seed a friend gave me. The seed was either from Phoenix Arizona or Cancun, Mexico. In any event, I planted this tree some years ago in way too much shade. The tree has no shape and is tall and skinny. I have no expectations from this tree. It is what it is. I estimate it's close to 20 feet tall.