No berries/blooms - why?

[maluta2]

I planted two rowan trees (one native, the other non-native)and a lilac two autumns ago,and a cotoneaster (cornubia) last spring. One rowan tree produced two (sic!) berries, the other one - none, the cotoneaster produced some abundant new leaves and shoots but no berries and the lilac also grew quickly and looked healthy but produced no flowers. I must say my plants are not tiny and I have seen much smaller ones with berries/flowers. Is it my gardening skills or rather lack thereof , or can I do something different this year to encourage the blooming (not) plants to show some colour? Please help.

they may have suffered in the heat of the last 2 summers as they were getting established-in fact, well done you that they didn't just snuff it, a big percentage do after planting you know. I bet they'll start to redeem themselves now, but you could try giving them a nice deep mulch of shredded bark in a good big circle around the roots, and maybe a handful of pelleted chicken manure in a month or so. Keep well watered especially the newest ones.

Lilac can take up to 3 years to bloom. I planted ours one autumn and it was 1.5 years later that it bloomed... and it was well worth the wait.

My rowan took a couple of years to really get established. Now I find after a good summer the berries are more prolific, than if there's been no sunshine.

Rowans can tolerate very poor soil. They grow in very inhospitable places in the wild.

Give them a year or two and I'm sure they'll be fine.