Struggling and No Flowers

The old Genista racemosa near the letter box is not flowering this spring, while the other two young ones that we have are in full bloom. I planted the other two from the seedlings that grew from the first.

Sometime earlier this year, I noticed that the old Genista near the letter box was growing leaning toward the driveway. I told F (my husband) to replace the wooden stake that obviously did not do the job anymore. Anyway, I did not see it when he was replacing the stake. I was actually a little bit upset when I saw the quite large wooden stake. It was not round and he did not sharpen the part of the stake that was inserted into the ground. As a result, some of the roots were likely damaged when he forced it down,  much too close to the base of the trunk, with a large mallet. When the plant was pulled forcefully to stand straight, there was also a big chance for more roots to get damaged.

No use to complain too much, the damage was done. Since then, that Genista plant that was just recovered from the caterpillars investation almost 2 years ago, was really struggling all over again. The frequent heavy rains during the autumn and winter make it even worse. Many small branches were dried and they lost a lot of leaves. I can see the base of the trunk near the roots  kind of black. It is not dead completely now and new leaf buds have started to grow back this spring, but there are no flowers. Hopefully, it will flower again the next season.

The other two young plants that we have are growing healthy and flowering nicely. I know that Genista racemosa hates to have its roots disturbed.

These are the other two young Genista racemosas that are flowering now:

Link to go to the last post on Genista racemosa: https://kiyanti2008.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/genista-racemosa-follow-up/

October 10,2011:

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I noticed that the struggling Genista near the letter box started to develop flower buds!!!!

Stunted, but they are flowers. It proves how tough this plant is. Most of the flowers are still in buds now, I will post some pictures when they have fully opened. The canopy still looks scraggly….. but hopefully with a drink of seaweed tea, it will grow thick and green like before.