Plants don't age in the same way we think of people aging. Age in people is a described on a chronological basis, where plants age ontogenetically. This might be framed as, the parts that have taken the most cell divisions to produce are the plant's oldest parts; so strangely, the most recent part of the plant (say, a new branch high on the plant) to grow is the oldest part of the plant. The youngest part of the plant will be found in the root to shoot transition zone. This juvenile part of the plant is also nearly always the most vigorous part of the plant. Plants pass through life stages until they end up at the sexually mature stage. At that point they are capable of blooming/fruiting. Whether they DO or not is complicated and not entirely understood. Blooming and other environmental reactions of most healthy plants are primarily influenced by day length (technically it's night length), but more than a few plants are triggered by other factors, like moisture availability, temperature, predation. Some plants even seem to have an internal 'alarm clock' that acts as a trigger to bloom. There are species of bamboo that bloom as infrequently as every 130 years and when the bloom occurs, all plants of a given genetic origin bloom simultaneously, en masse (all at once), and this occurs regardless of environmental influences. Now, that a plant is capable of blooms/fruit doesn't mean it will produce same, no matter how much we hope. The factors that limit a plant's ability to bloom are as complicated as those that trigger blooming. The plant's internal chemical messengers that limit blooming is first influenced by the plants ontogenetic age, but then by health, stress, stored energy reserves, a significant number of environmental factors, and sometimes seemingly no more than a built-in piqued obstinacy that can be more irritating than Justin Bieber or the Kardashians, if that's even possible. How do I get it to bloom? Keep it healthy and let it do its thing. You can search online - there might be some simple ways to coax it to bloom exactly whenever it feels like it. How old does it have to be? The only age important to plants is what growth phase they're in. They have to be old enough chronologically to have reached sexual maturity. This is also complicated because the (ontogenetic) age of the parent plant from which the propagule (that is now your plant) was taken has to be a part of the equation. Example - a hawthorn tree from seed needs to survive around 20-25 growth cycles to bloom; whereas, a cutting from a blooming hawthorn tree can be counted on blooming within a few years if its state of vitality has been generally good. Al

Within the time we had them before RRD struck (less than 2 years), our Julia Childs didn't fade a whole lot here in NC. They were always a shade of yellow, identifiably yellow, never merely yellowish or creamy white. In cool weather, that yellow was intense, like butter. I have a picture that I took of Julia Child with an exceptionally early blooming Debutante (beautiful pink) camellia in November. Julia wasn't picked on the first day that she should have come in--but one or two days late, and then it took me a couple of days to get around to taking its picture in the vase. Anyway, it was a nice buttery yellow when I took the picture and the vase of the butter yellow Julia Child and the pink Debutante looked good for at least five days. It was noticeably more faded at the end of its time in the vase, but still looked like a yellow rose. Rise 'N' Shine fades really badly and really quickly, at least in hot weather. (We haven't had it in cool weather yet.) That's in the landscape. But if you notice that a bunch have just opened, you can cut them and bring them inside for a flower arrangement. They stay pretty close to perfectly the same bright yellow once inside in the air conditioning and they make nice little miniature additions to an arrangement. To the extent that we've seen Ghislaine de Feligonde blooming (not much), it fades quickly but is still attractive as a creamy small rose. Best wishes, Mary

The soil looks too compacted, and as if nutrients are lacking. Re-pot, even in the same container, with good compost, good drainage and water well, but don't make them soggy. Feed in the summer months with a good standard fertiliser.

Your sons clematis sounds pretty ! You could either fertilize now or wait a week that way you could see how the plant reacts if at all to the Epsom. This was my first year using worm compost on my roses and I waited to see what they did . Well lots of my roses broke out with new basals (yippee!!) so I mark that as a success! I just used reg rose food today though even though I'm kinda behind ! I used the worm compost on my clems too . It's just the prettiest dark rich dirt I want to put it everywhere! :) wanted to say my new growth is a different shade of green than the old growth but not much . Can you show someone at a nursery ? What if you planted wave petunia on the ground ? Far enough away from your clematis, they spread really nice ! Or that purple lantana ?