Re: jacaranda help.... pics attached


Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata,
Central New Zealand
----- Original Message ----- From: Pamela Steele 
A friend of mine here on the Costa Blanca has a Jacaranda. She has been in
the house for 2 years but it has never flowered.The strange thing about it
is that it has not dropped any leaves at all . A very 'kind' neighbour took
the top out of it while they were away. I would personally be incensed about
it .......but she is philosophical !   Does anyone know why this has not
flowered or dropped leaves in 2 years? I think it looks a tad yellow to me
but I don't know much about Jacarandas.

Hi Pam
It certainly looks yellow to me too. I was familar with these lovely trees
in Kenya, where they were very common (htough ii did not have one myself)
and they were always a rich dark green.

Looking at the plants growing around it, which are all pretty drought-proof,
makes me wonder if it is getting as much water as it needs. That could
account for the bad colour and I suppose might also discourage flowering.
One bit of information I found from Googling was the following "A native of
NE Argentina where it occurs mainly along rivers in sub-humid areas Some
sort of organic mulch over the root zone could be helpful I think. The best
of these would be some wood chips if such is available.

I may have however from the same source  found a more definite answer to its
failure to flower at it also states "Seedling trees often take a very long time 
to flower. It is not unusual to wait 7-14 years for flowers..while grafted
trees may flower in 3-5 years". It seems likely that your friend may just
need to be patient.

As to not losing its leaves, I can find no mention of this problem, but
apparently it should drop them all just before flowering, so perhaps there
is some connection, between the two events. It is perhaps at present just
losing a few at a time, so the loss has not been observed. Certainly no leaf
is able to last indefinitely. Even so-called evergreens do normally replace
their leaves gradually, generally  every one or two years
.
I agree it is indeed a pity the neighbour decided to be helpful and topped
the tree. Pruning. it seems, is not recommended as it tends to produce  ugly
upright growths and spoil the normal gently rounded adult profile. Thank
goodness _our_ neighbours here are better disciplined! I,.like you. would
have definitely resented the interference.

We just had an extraordinary (and we hope unique) experience yesterday. I
was lying down for an afternoon rest and Tony was at work at the computer.
Suddenly I heard a loud roaring sound followed immediately by a tremendous
crash of breaking glass. I got up and rushed into our living room where Tony
told me a stag had suddenly stuck its head through one of the large panes in
the front window. It had then backed off and fled along the street.

It was such an unlikely event that we could scarcely believe it had
happened. We have lived here over 50 years and never before seen one of
these animals in the immediate neighbourhood, though they are always about
in the more distant hills..Apparently the beast (a fallow deer) had first
appeared in  a garden nearby and the people there had alerted the police,
who had arrived and attempted to move it back into the bush. They were just
herding it down the road when it suddenly swerved into our front garden. We
think when he looked up at the house he saw a dim reflection of his head in
the front window and thinking it was rival (It is the breeding season just
now) it charged at the window, leaping into it from the front lawn. The
result was a terrific surprise for both for the stag and us. It then
extracted itself from the mess. and continued along the road before heading
down towards the river and away from the houses.

It was the most awkward time to have a broken window, being the middle of
sunday afternoon, but we are lucky to have a conscientious glazier in our
valley who when appealed to came right away had the pane replace in under
half an hour. We also have a lovely pair of youngish heighbours who had come
running to the rescue when they heard the crash and who most generously
spent a good half hour helping us clear up all the glass both inside and
out.

Things could have been a whole lot worse than they were. Tony was sitting
well to the side of the window working at the computer and so missed being
in any way damaged even if pretty shocked, and as it happened I had lingered
a bit over my rest or I would have probably been seated on the sofa which is
just below the very window the stag put its head through and I could have
been badly cut (maybe even died of fright!!).

Moira

( Sorry, initially forgot to copy this to the list, M)
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