My little Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) was the first tree that I planted here last spring. For any plant, I expect the first year after installation to be primarily spent growing a healthy root system, and I don’t mind if it doesn’t bloom in its first season. However, this particular tree’s first year has been filled with even more unusual events that I wasn’t expecting.
- I planted my Texas Mountain Laurel tree in spring 2023.
- A few months later I noticed that half the tree was significantly paler than the other half. Although the pale half was apparently alive, I never saw any new growth in that part of the tree for the rest of the year.
- Meanwhile, the darker half of the tree did produce new leaves, and in the fall there were early flower stalks, which are normal structures in preparation for blooms the following spring.
- Sure enough, in February this year new flower buds appeared on the stalks that had grown the previous fall, and after this photo was taken they opened enough that I could see the purple color of the petals.
- Then the flower buds abruptly fell off, for no reason that I could discern!
- The latest development is that there is finally new growth on the paler side of the tree (now not so pale), and that growth includes both leaves and flowers (photos below). The darker side has new leaves as well. The photo at the top of this post was taken this week, as were the two photos below.
I gather that some people wait years for their Texas Mountain Laurels to bloom, so maybe these trees just take longer to settle than others. Mine is apparently doing its own thing, and I will be intrigued to watch the journey.
Rewilding My Lot 
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