Baby tree's flirst bloom (royal poinciana)

[UTUSN]

All over town are royal poincianas totally COVERED in flaming flowers. We had two puny ones at the childhood house that were never that thriving until they finally just froze. I tried some nurseries and either couldn't find any or they were so big the price was, like, 3 or 4 hundred buckaroos. I put out the word to my friends to be on the lookout at the flea markets. Well, one day they delivered it and my first impression was shocked laughter. It was a puny, waist-high, pencil thin thing with three little fronds at the top. The most ridiculous thing ever! But last year the wet conditions made it ZOOM, in height anyway. So it got tall and developed branches, although they were spread out to the sides, not in one main trunk, but anyway.

So then there were NO freezes last winter but it dropped EVERY leaf and the tips of the branches were black, and it stayed leafless for months until April when a few little leaves finally popped out. And yesterday, surPRIZE surPRIZE surPRIZE: Its very first blooms!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear UTUSN!

OOh, gorgeous!

I love love love flowering trees!

Sounds like you did just the right thing, even if you didn't know you were!

And there are more buds...

Congrats!

:woohoo:

[Dogtown]

2. Feed it bone meal in the late fall.

It will breakdown over the winter months & supply your tree w/ the phosphorus it needs for blooming in the spring.

I'd bet on a noticeable increase in blooms next year.