I hope this information is helpful. Let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers...Dr. Robby

There are several things that could cause this issue, but I would say that it is likely one of two things. Either your mock orange's soil has too much nitrogen, or it is not getting enough sunlight. The fact that you said it's 5 years old leads me to believe that it is in a spot that isn't getting the best sunlight. The process of flowering is an expensive process for the plant and if the plant can't afford to do it, it will refrain. Plants will need a lot of energy to flower successfully, so if it can't get enough energy from the sun they may never flower. Have you tried using your EasyBloom to see the sunlight situation?

Hey Erin...I actually get this question a lot, so don't feel too bad. In fact, I even wrote an article about this very topic. You can find the article at the following link that you will have to cut and paste into your web browser's URL: http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/care/why-wont-my-plant-flower

Awesome! Ya, last weekend I planted up my window box. I decided to go with the typical European look and went with the bright red ivy Geranium. I look out that particular window a lot more now. :)

I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions. Cheers...Dr. Robby

Question 3: It is definitely true that chestnuts have compounds in their tissues that can prevent certain seeds from germinating and making new plants. This property is called allelopathy. The most famous of plants that can do this is walnut. They have a compound called juglone that prevents certain seeds from germinating. As for chestnut, I could not tell you the exact compound's name, but it is not oxalic acid that is causing this allelopathy. You may want to avoid using chestnut leaves in your compost.

Question 2: The only reason why I can think that you would want to have rhubarb separate from the rest of your garden is that it is a perennial and produces leaves year after year. If the rest of your garden is annuals and you have to dig up the soil each year, you won't disturb your perennial rhubarb crop if it is separated from your annual crop. It is common practice to take the blades of the leaf and compost them to use as fertilizer too. If rhubarb had any compounds that were toxic to plants or prevented plant seeds from germinating, you definitely would not want to compost the leaves to have those toxins in something that you would later spread onto your garden.

Hey Laurie...Rhubarb has more than just oxalic acid when it comes to toxins, but I am unaware of any that are truly toxic to plants. These toxins (oxalic acid being the most prominent one) are present in the leaves to prevent animal herbivory, which explains why deer stay away from it. Once again, I would like to point out that the petiole, or the stem-like part of the leaf, is what is harvested from the plant for consumption. The concentration of oxalic acid is significantly lower in that part of the leaf as opposed to the blade of the leaf. Anyhoo, being that oxalic acid is toxic to animals and not really to plants, making an herbicide from rhubarb leaves to prevent weed infestation would not necessarily work.

I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any further questions. By chance do you know how often your friend transplants these plants and how old the plants are? Cheers...Dr. Robby

One thing that is definitely happening is the transplanted plants have root tissue damage. This can increase the instance of pathogenic infection, but this generally would not be a big issue. It is true that plants, specifically trees, will have stronger trunks if you give them some physical stress when the trees are young. Imagine a physical stress like wind blowing that trunk around. The tree will focus more structural tissue to keeping the tree upright. So it is true that tough love can be good for plants, but I cannot really think of any substantial benefit to several transplants of young plants other than more branched roots and possibly refreshing the nutrients around the immediate rootzone by replacing depleted soil. As for the depleted soil theory, simply letting the roots fully explore the rootzone should be fine for allowing the plant to fully investigate its soil.