Can I find a purple Jacaranda tree small enough for my compact garden? The flowering Jacaranda tree, native to South America but loved in warm climate zones worldwide, is magnificent but too large for the average garden. This means that its usefulness is limited to extensive properties. Here is how to get the same color and style for your smaller garden.
How Big is the Jacaranda Tree?
The beautiful Jacaranda will reach as tall as 50 feet and as wide as 30 feet at maturity, With its commanding size and vigorous root system, the tree requires an expansive open space to grow in. Do not plant a Jacaranda near driveways, walkways, or water features. They have large surface roots that will compete with your features.
‘Where to Grow a Jacaranda Tree.’
Wherever you garden, flowering trees are prized as ways to create a focal point in the landscape. With careful planning, you can select the right sizes, colors, and bloom times for your garden. Many trees we value for flowering also give us all-year appeal. Consider the flowering crabapple with spring flowers, later foliage colors, and fruit that can be used in the kitchen and in winter to sustain the birds.
‘The Flowering Tree List-For Gardens North And South.’
Is There A Smaller Version Of The Jacaranda Tree For Compact Gardens?
There is a small Jacaranda suitable for smaller gardens. This dwarf cultivar will serve as a feature in the garden, used as a specimen tree in a border, or even in a container for a patio. It will grow successfully for you in the full sun and well-drained soil that will serve the standard-sized Jacaranda. The plant is a true Jacaranda with all of its features except the full size.
The Dwarf Bonsai Blue Jacaranda Tree
How Big Will The Dwarf Jacaranda Tree Get?
The Bonsai Blue Dwarf Jacaranda Tree is a small compact plant, that will reach ten to twelve feet in height.
- Height: 10-12 feet.
- Width: 6-8 feet.
- Plant hardiness Zones 9-11. The plant favors heat and humidity.
- Bred especially for the small garden, this tree offers the same bright green and feathery leaves and large blue-purple blossoms as the standard.
- Bloom period, the same late spring and early summer period.
- Light conditions: full sun
- Water requirements: low once established.
The Jacaranda Blooms
The great appeal of the Jacaranda tree is at least partly due to the brilliant flowers. The trumpet-shaped, five-part individual blooms are 2″ wide and grow arranged on a panicle twelve inches long. The blooms are blue-purple and some varieties have white or deep purple shades.
The fern-like foliage is arranged oppositely on the stem.
A Panicle is a loose arrangement of flowers along a stem; oats are another example of flowers arranged in a panicle. In a panicle, the major axis of the inflorescence is branched and the branches themselves bloom in a simple arrangement. The inflorescence is the complete flower head of the plant.
Where to Grow Your Jacaranda Tree-Climate Zone
This is the most current USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, find your garden location on the map and use the Hardiness Zone colors on the right to see if either of the two Jacaranda trees will grow in your garden. The trees are recommended for zones 9-10. Remember that there are half zones find your garden in zones 9 a and b, 10 a and b, and 11 a and b.
Jacaranda trees perform best in Hawaii, Florida, Southern California, and parts of Texas. There are some places in the tropical world where the plant has become invasive.
This will help you use the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones for your garden.
How to Use the New USDA Plant Hardiness Zones
This very adaptable small Jacaranda, Jacaranda mimosifolia ‘Sakai01’ PP 26,574 is a true, dwarf version of the Jacaranda. Use it in any style landscape to add an elegant impact to your space. The tree is semi-evergreen, resists drought and heat, and will grow in the same zones as the standard tree, (Zones 9-11).
Both versions of the Jacaranda will bloom from May through June and decorate your garden with brilliant blue-purple flowers. It will also provide nectar for pollinators. The tree will prefer well-drained and enriched soil. It will however tolerate alkaline and poor-quality soils.
How To Grow Your Dwarf Blue-Purple Jacaranda Tree
Planting The Tree
Select a spot large enough for your tree and with 6-8 hours of sunlight per day. (Full Sun). Dig your planting hole as deep as the plant’s root ball and two to three times as wide. Plant the tree and when backfilling the hole ensure that there are no air pockets. Water as you plant. Add a thick layer of mulch over the planting area to protect the roots from extremes of temperature.
The tree will drop leaves and flowers, plant the tree in areas where this is not a problem (It’s not to use next to the pool!)
When To Expect Your New Jacaranda To Flower
A plant originating from seed will take roughly 7-14 years to bloom. A sapling may bloom in two to three years. Your Jacarands may not bloom because it is planted in a cold climate, or if it does not have enough sunlight (under six hours). Excess nitrogen will promote foliage but may cause a lack of flowers. This can appear as fertilizer runoff from lawns. Overwatering Jacarandas can reduce flowers, the plant is drought-tolerant at maturity.
Maintaining Your Dwarf Jacaranda
Water
While the tree is being established, water it twice per week. When you water the tree, make sure that the water reaches three inches deep, and concentrate your water at the drip line of the tree, rather than the trunk. Use your finger or a water gauge to measure. In arid and hot periods water more often. In dormant winter periods water monthly. The Jacaranda is a fast-growing tree in tropical environments. You can expect it to add ten feet annually in the early years. Once mature, the tree is drought tolerant, and blooms best when not overwatered!
Soil
The best soil for the Jacaranda is sandy, well-draining, and neutral to acidic in pH. There is a danger of root rot from wet soil. Ensure good drainage!
Fertilizer
If you choose to fertilize the tree use a slow-release balanced fertilizer in springtime. (10-10-10).
Pruning
Like its big brother the tall standard, the dwarf Jacaranda tree is fast growing. Wonderful you say, but remember fast-growing trees have softer wood and the branches can break if not maintained. Prune to create a single trunk and keep major limbs spaced apart. Prune about every three years until the tree reaches about 20 years old.
When to prune? The tree blooms on new wood, this means pruning in winter to establish strong new branching and the maximum amount of blooms.
Summary, How To Find A Dwarf Jacaranda
Jacaranda ‘Bonsai Blue’ is marketed in the US by the Monrovia Company and was developed by the Japanese breeder Koyoshi Sakai. This is a relatively new plant and it is offered online by Monrovia.
Find it here: Monrovia Bonsai Blue Jacaranda.
You should also find the tree at local garden centers in the plant’s growing zones. Our garden is in zone 10 and local centers near us carry it.
If your compact garden is ready for warm weather flowering three and purple is not your color consider the dwarf poinciana with brilliant red-orange blooms. Not a true Royal Poinciana-Delonix regia, it is Dwarf Poinciana-Caesalpinia pulcherrima, however, it will create a Poinciana-like appearance in a compact size.