About a year ago I fell heir to a stock plant of "Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus" of the nursery for which I had been working, when it ceased operation. I discovered that there were actually two plants in the 14" pot, with 85% of the foliage being carried on one stem. The other had obviously suffered and struggled against the competition of its more vigorous companion for several decades, and had developed a wonderfully animated trunk which seemed to me perfect as the basis for a "literati" style bonsai. I was able to remove the weaker tree very easily, like a cutting a wedge of pie, and it settled into its new pot very nicely. The only problem is that only one small branch is actually producing new foliage. The rest of the canopy has been producing flowers (and seeds) profusely for at least 4 months, with virtually no extension of the branch tips through new foliage. The flowers are so prolific and flavourful that I have been tempted to harvest them to create a new dessert sensation, "Sweet Rosemary granita", but I'm a little too lazy. Can anyone suggest anything I might do to gently urge this plant toward vegetative growth, without injuring it? It's planted quite tighly in a deep bonsai pot, in a very porous soil. I feed it weakly with 20-20-20 once a month. Of course now it is inside, close against a south-facing window, though it thrived in the outdoors in Edmonton's full-sun for the entire summer. The larger plant, still in its original pot, has also grown immensely, producing a few flowers, but mostly new leaf growth. Is there anyone out there who is familiar with the idiosyncrasies of eldely Rosemary trees in pots?
It could be stress flowering. That is, moving and transpotting the plant convinced it that death was imminent, and so it's put all its energy into a last-ditch effort to reproduce. If it used to be outdoors and now it's indoors, maybe it's a bit confused about which season it is?
