Joburg’s jacaranda trees are off to a slow start this year. Although the timing of the purple bloom explosion varies from year to year, there’s no question we should have way more of them by now.
My fellow jacaranda-loving friends and I — certain the missing jacaranda blooms signify the descending anvil of doom for what has already been one of the worst years in living memory — have been panicking over the jacarandas for the past couple of weeks. The panic is not totally warranted, as it turns out, but the situation is still worrisome for those of us who depend on these trees to deliver us an annual dose of purple cheer in late September and October.
“I have not seen one healthy Jacaranda,” said a friend, visiting from the Western Cape, in a Facebook post on September 23rd. “I don’t think any of the 100,000 Jacarandas in Joburg survived the borer beetle. I am devastated.”
“Oh I’ll really lose it if we don’t get the jacarandas omg,” wrote another friend on Whatsapp on September 24th.
“Oh my gosh what?! Don’t they miraculously bloom in late late September?” wrote another on September 25th. “Devastated…Gosh this is a lot to process.”
The first post above, which references the tree-killing shot hole borer beetle (or PSHB) attacking trees all over South Africa, made me want to bury myself under a rock for the remainder of 2020. So I immediately researched, and confirmed what I’d read before: Jacaranda trees are not highly susceptible to PSHB and hence that is NOT the cause of their late blooming. And the jacarandas definitely have not all died — at least not yet.
Over the past week, purple blossoms have finally started popping up on a few trees around my area. There’s quite a bit of purple in Melville now, and I also saw some in Hillbrow this morning. A friend says the blooms are coming out in Northcliff, and I also saw some promising photos from Pretoria, the true jacaranda capital of South Africa, which is always a few degrees warmer than Joburg and a week or two ahead in blooming. (If you want to see some spectacular jacarandas in bloom, check out my 2016 post about the white jacarandas of Pretoria.)
Jacaranda Blooms on October 13th, 2020
Yesterday morning I decided to drive around and take a few photos of how the jacarandas are coming along in a couple of key spots.
Melville definitely shows promise. But for every jacaranda starting to bloom, I saw at least five more with just a few green leaves and no flowers.
In Parktown, it’s pretty clear that something is up. Even before I saw that dire Facebook post a couple of weeks ago, I had noticed a strip of jacarandas looking very sick on Sherborne Road. The bark is peeling off at an alarming rate, and the trees on that street still aren’t blooming. I took some photos yesterday.
The jacarandas along Emmarentia Avenue in Greenside and Parkview are still barren. And I’m seeing quite a lot of jacarandas all over the place that are sprouting leaves but no flowers.
I posted an inquiry about this on a local Facebook group moderated by a landscaping expert, and received a couple of possible theories on what might be happening. One person speculated that many of Joburg’s jacarandas — an alien species, brought to South Africa from South America in the late 1800s and early 1900s — are reaching the end of their lifespan and simply dying out for that reason. Someone else suggested the trees are suffering due to long-term temperature and rainfall changes and a general lack of maintenance.
Another possibility is the jacarandas are simply blooming late, as sometimes happens for no discernible reason, and/or they’re just having an off year, as also happens sometimes. I looked back through all my jacaranda blog posts and found this one from late 2012, in which I complained about seeking blooming jacarandas to photograph and not finding any. So this year wouldn’t be the first time.
In that 2012 post, when I looked closely, I noticed a photo from 2011 in which some Melville jacarandas’ bark looked to be peeling off. So maybe that issue is also nothing new.
I’d love to hear updates from other parts of Joburg and Pretoria on how the jacarandas are looking in your area. And while I normally hate conspiracy theories, please share any jacaranda-blooming conspiracies — or legit scientific explanations, for that matter — you may have heard about what’s happening with the jacarandas. Theorizing about purple flowers is far more pleasant than discussing American politics.
I’ll post another update later in the jacaranda season.
When I first cam to Johannesburg (long, long time ago) the jacarandas only ‘came out’ in November. And until about 2008 that was still the case. It’s only in the last 10 years that it’s got earlier. So, for me, they are still blooming too early!!!
Aha! I had not even considered this angle. Thank you.
Here in Kensington they are showing some signs of purple, but sadly a lot look as though they are on there way out. I just generally think it’s been a bad year all round for our trees. My Fig tree and Paperbark are not looking as good as they normally do and my olive tree seems to be losing more leaves than usual for this time of the year. Here’s hoping that they recover, well those that aren’t past their time.
Was wondering how things are looking on your side. Sigh.
Here in Orange Grove and surrounds there have been no blooming of Jacarandas… It was also worrying me. But the weather does seem milder and wetter this Sept/Oct so I was thinking that might be the reason.
I hope so!
In Torrance, California, we have a TON of jacarandas! Of course ours bloom in May, but they are amazing every year. I’ll have to look and see if any trees have peeling bark next time I’m near one.
I used to go to Santa Monica every June for work, in the years before I moved to SA. I remember the jacarandas then — my colleagues complained about how annoying they are because the blossoms stick to your car.
They totally do! And the berries are messy, too.
Oh I so hope they are just late. I imagine that when they die, they won’t be replaced nor the eucalypts nor any of the non – native tree species. Remember when they wanted to cut them all down in Pretoria and there was such a huge outcry that they gave up. I LOVE JACARAMDAS. I’ll ask my friends how they are doin in Harare.
Oh yes, please do 🙂
I remember the blooms in Adelaide. Magnificent sight to view from the nearby hills. No idea what they are doing now as I avoid the city.
Clearly these are Southern Hemisphere trees!
In front of our house and B&B there are many trees but I think they are sick as the bark is not looking well and also some branches are cracking and falling off. We tried to get City of Joburg involved to come and maintain the the trees but we gave up after receiving many reference numbers and at least 10 times trying by @mail; making phone calls, going to the civic centre in town. Joburg doesn’t like it’s wonderful trees (so does Pretoria) and green in town. Hopefully we will have some really good rains again this and next month to challenge Ms. Jackaranda to start and bloom and make Melville purple again. So lovely……..
Hopefully!
I really enjoy reading your blog – it encourages me to get out and explore a bit more. I am blown away by your beautiful photos.
A few years ago the Jacaranda trees looked terrible. The barks peeling of. And; they have flowered for many years since 🙂
Thanks so much Lesley! And that is good to know.
Hello Heather, this is off the topic of Jacarandas, but I thought you would like to read this, in case you have not seen it already.https://www.property24.com/articles/melville-voted-one-of-the-worlds-coolest-neighbourhoods-right-now/29870?fbclid=IwAR0FY6u-wFJjNpx7QfFiNBq17E80jpK77MZgPjhI3lOkFp1H8s4j6-MgGuE
Yes this is so cool! It was making the rounds on Melville Facebook circles last week. It’s the second year Melville has made the list – well deserved 🙂
I live at the German Seniors’ Residence in Richmond that is adjacent to Melville and I have been looking for the appearance of the purple blossoms on the two jacarandas on our property. One of these trees is outside my first floor window so I am level with the branches near the top of the tree. The only sign of the tree reacting to the change of season is that it is sprouting lots of fresh green leaves. To me it appears as though the trees are out of sync with producing so many leaves before the appearance of the flowers.
I agree. I think it’s just a bad jacaranda year.
Hello from California. I have a massive jacaranda in my yard and the bark seems to be shedding on it as well. Like it inflated at some point, then deflated, and now all the bark is loose and cracked. Obviously it didn’t LITERALLY inflate – it just looks like it did. It is also blooming late. How did your trees turn out that year?
Hi Sondra, since writing this post I’ve noticed that jacaranda bark issue all over town. But it doesn’t really seem to affect the blooming of the trees. Maybe just a sign of age?
Hi Sondra, I also live in California and our normally-beautiful Jacaranda tree is having the same problems as yours did last year with large patches of peeling bark and limited, slow blooming. Ours is also not leafing out all over. I am curious as to how your tree has done this year and hoping it recovered from these issues over the course of another season’s time. I’d be very grateful for a current report—thanks!
I’m curious too!