Question from Laurie:
I just bought a cape honeysuckle patio tree about three weeks ago, when can I expect it to flower or at least show buds?  Up until now I check it daily to make sure it doesn’t dry out and it is in full sun from about 1 pm to sundown.

Answer from Pat:
Cape honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis, Tecomaria capensis) is a flowering shrub, sometimes a climber, native to South Africa. It needs full sun and grows best in places like Florida or California where it is often rampant and invasive but beloved for ease of growth, pest and disease resistance, drought resistance, and for its bright orange or yellow flowers that bring hummingbirds. It blooms mainly in fall and winter.  Thus Cape honeysuckle is not likely to brighten your patio with bloom this summer. Most likely it won’t set buds or bloom until late summer or fall. Prune after bloom, not before. Cape honeysuckle can survive in Boston Massachusetts in a greenhouse, but it is not adapted to living outdoors through a Boston winter. If I were you I’d go back to the nursery or store where you purchased this plant and ask them politely to explain why they are selling Cape honeysuckle as a patio tree for summer bloom when it won’t bloom until fall and is not adapted to living outdoors year-round in Boston.

Related Articles:

1. Is Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) Toxic?
2. Container-grown Cape Honeysuckle with Wet Feet
3. Honeysuckle Dying
4. Yellow Leaves Falling off Honeysuckle, Citrus, and Other Plants
5. Small Patio Trees