Plant Doctor Archive

Where are all the flowers?

MY dwarf Australian frangipani won't bloom. I have had it for almost four years and it's about half a metre tall and looks healthy. Can you help?

THE dwarf Australian frangipani, Hymenosporum 'Gold Nugget', has been a bit of a disappointment for some gardeners. Although it can grow well and form a lovely compact, bushy shrub, some individual plants just don't seem to flower well. Sometimes one will flower every year while another plant in the same conditions won't flower at all and there's no obvious reason why.

In theory, if you wait long enough it should eventually produce scented yellow flowers, similar to its cousin, the full-sized tree form of Australian frangipani, Hymenosporum flavum. In the meantime, don't prune it at all or you may be removing shoots that could carry flower buds.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.