| Thursday Tips & Techniques: Why Shrubs Don't Flower |
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| Written by Heleigh Bostwick Thursday, 20 September 2012 | |||
 Although it's sometimes difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong, there are a few explanations as to why a flowering shrub is not flowering like it's supposed to. Full sun is required for optimal blooms in most cases, so it could be that it's too shady. If you used a fertilizer containing too much nitrogen, which encourages vegetative growth, you might not see any flowers either. Likewise, if the plant has a lot of suckers, it may be investing energy in new growth instead of flowers. Sometimes plants may be hardy in a particular region, but not hardy enough to produce flowers. It may be too cold (flower buds are more sensitive to cold than vegetative parts) or the amount of sunlight (photoperiod) might not be sufficient enough for the plant to produce flowers. In addition, many plants don't flower until they have reached a certain age or maturity. If the shrub is stressed, for example if the soil is too dry for an extended period of time, it will conserve resources energy by not producing flowers. And last but not least of course is that the shrub was pruned at the wrong time of year, the flower buds inadvertently removed in the process. However, if the shrub has never flowered, this is generally not the reason for the lack of flowers. |
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