Twice this week I have been asked why a plant has not flowered despite receiving apparently good treatment. Most plants use flowers to start the reproduction and pollination cycle but below are some of the main reasons for failure.

Reasons for None Flowering

1. Plants too young and immature, particularly trees and shrubs. Wisteria may take 6-7 years. Biennials grow one year and flower the next.
2. Frost damage to the buds on early fruit like Plums or to early shrubs Hydrangeas, Camellias etc. Bird, aphid or other damage to flowering shoots.
3. Planted too late in the season.
4. Poor cultivar or plant variety with low flowering habit. Some plants are vegetatively reproduced from poor flowering stock.
5. Poor and incorrect pruning that removes bud potential.
6. Sterile clone with no flowering capacity.
7. Plant such as Ferns never flower but reproduce by spores. see photo above.
8. Stress on the plant causing lack of root or stem growth
9. Energy is put into green growth rather than flower production often caused by over feeding nitrogen rich fertilizer.
10. Lack of sun, some plants need a lot of sun to start reproduction.

Being cynical, and having more experience of reason eleven than I care to remember, of course the plant may be dead and dead plants don’t flower.

‘It flowered and you missed it!’

‘It was too small and you couldn’t see it.’

‘It looked funny and you didn’t think it was the flower.’