First flower from natal plum. hooray

Surprised to find the first flower in bloom from my num-num.  Know this is no monumental achievement, but it brought a smile to my face yesterday morning.  I've owned the tree for 2 years now.  Major pruning and restyling last year likely prevented flowering.

Congratulations, and enjoy the fragrance!

Congrats, I know how you feel, it took mine a while to start blooming. But now that I get it to bloom regularly, the problem is getting the fruit to develop. I'm not sure if this ability is related to the age of the plant.

Does anyone know? Would be grateful for any information related to encouraging and retaining fruit on this species.

They are notoriously slow growers, but the delightful fragrance of the bloom certainly compensates...enjoy it while it lasts.

Here's to many more blooms  


Regards,
Nigel

Many thanks. The smell is pretty awesome. Wilts a bit in the afternoon heat we've been having here but perks right back up at night. No idea about the fruit, Nigel, but I've read it's pretty tasty.

Morning Guys

The Amatagulu  (the first name given by the Zulu)  only fruits once it is 2 years of age.   It gets pollinated at night by a specific moth.  So if you dont have the pollinator, you will not get any fruit.

But in saying that it is very easy to hand pollinate the flowers as they are self fertile.  

They are slow growing the first two years of their life, after that they grow F.... fast

The best Amatagulu for bonsai is ofcourse  Carissa biospinosum...with tiny little leaves and fruit, absolutely stunning.

Love and light

sharing a picture of mine.

best wishes,   sam

....that is a lovely Amatagulu! Well done Sam.

Did you pollinate the flowers yourself?
I know that Carissa naturalized on the west coast of America, so Hawaii must also have the pollinator. Me thinks.

love and light

Andre & Sam, thanks for sharing.

Though I can't tell the scale for certain, those leaves appear miniscule compared to those of mine! Do you recommend removing the thorns or will this cause an adverse effect unbeknownst to me?

hoo, your carissa flower is beautiful, I love this plant.....but now you have to show us all the bonsai   

there isn't only a specific pollinator, the important is that the animals have a long mouth....

thanks andre and hoo

until you mentioned problems with pollination I did not realize there was a problem. we must have pollinators in abundance, because natal plums, which grow everywhere, bloom and fruit regularly.

don't know how many varieties there might be with respect to leaf size. containerization and pruning resulted in smaller leaves on mine. thorns get cut off regularly. can't stand the sight of blood!

best wishes, sam