Sacha wrote:

Don't want to be a party-pooper but we think it's very unlikely you'll get a
Jacaranda to flower outdoors in our UK climate, unless you're in a very
hotspot, with long summer days and a lot of shelter!

It highly unlikely - even in the warmest spots. Jacaranda needs a
good 4 months of hot dry weather (temperatures rising to the upper
20's or 30's (C) in order to ripen the wood sufficiently for it to
flower. Furthermore, even though it is naturally deciduous, it cannot
cope with our cool wet winters. Ironically the drier, colder winters
of the South of France etc suit it well.

We have one that
*does* flower in the largest of the nursery glasshouses and that's now about
10' but Ray is very doubtful it would flower even here in S. Devon, except
under glass.

Ray's absolutely spot on. It can be flowered as a large 'shrub' or
small tree in a decent sized pot, but you need to grow it to around 8
feet at least. It also needs the additional heat of a greenhouse -
even if it is cold glass. This way it can benefit from a warm, early
start in order to produce flowers, followed by enough new wood for
flowering in the subsequent year. Essentially, it is similar in
requirements to those of 'Crepe Myrtle' (Lagerstroemia) but possibly
less hardy. Sacha, Ray and myself could tell you a thing about
getting those beauties to flower :-[

That said, Jacaranda makes a nice foliage plant for the slightly
heated greenhouse and can be easily constrained to a smaller size if
necessary. Give it a good sandy, loam-based compost and pinch-out or
prune the shoots as necessary. You can also train it to a single stem
in order to get the largest leaves. Grown this way it makes an
impressive temporary plant for the patio in summer, growing to 6 or 7
feet high and can be pruned back to 12" high or so in winter. This
makes it relatively easy to store under glass.


Dave Poole
TORQUAY UK