You can try to move it to a different location or it may need a warmer or cooler temperature. Do you fertilize? I do not have this problem with my EverPrecious but I did have the same problem with EverJoy. The plant had those large beautiful leaves but puny flowers. Subsequent blooms were the same. I decided that I had a poor strain of the plant and finally tossed it. I have grown a number of the Ever series and this was the only one that was subpar, so I do feel you can get a dud sometimes. Nevertheless, I would give your plant a chance to improve as it is certainly a beautiful variety.

Terri

I purchased a beat up Optimara from Lowe's. I think it is Wyoming. The flowers were 3/4". I trimmed some leaves and blooms, repotted in a 4" Oyama pot and placed it in a south facing window that is shaded by trees. I use a weak solution of ferilizer in the pot. It has bounced back incredibly with 1 3/4" vibrant blooms. We keep our home at 70 degrees and use a fan. I hope yours improves as you try different growing methods! Good luck!

Hmm, this topic prompts me to ask ...

If you removed half to 2/3 of the buds, would the remaining buds give rise to larger flowers?

I know this works for some plants but have zero idea if it would hold true for AVs.

My experience with the this series is minimal (I seem to have gotten leaves or something and they didn't turn out). I do recall that one was disappointingly small.

Bearing that in mind - I have read other reports that the flowers are not particularly large in comparison to the size of the plant. However they are supposed to get a lot of them and they last a long time. I saw two at Lowe's last fall and the one looked okay to me. The other was the purplish one with green edges. They were such huge ruffled plants that I did spend the extra money. Haven't seen one there since.

Light and fertilizer should help though. Overall, I don't think Optimaras have giant blossoms but they have other good qualities.

Diana in PA

Paul raises an interesting question since I got what I believe is Rita and the bloom count was crazy high. I would prefer larger, less crowded blossoms.

(This plant is still quarantined and really hasn't had a chance. So far the color hasn't been what I expected but maybe that's conditions - or maybe it's what the color is really like.)

Diana

Thanks for all the replies! I will try seeing what happens to the blooms if I remove some of them. I am also wondering if maybe it would help if I just took out all the blooms with their stems and let them regrow? Though I have had this plant for a couple months now, they are still on the same set of blooms as when I first received the plant in the mail. Perhaps maybe it just needs a reset?

Oh and I should clarify, I have been consistently removing dead blooms. I don't know if my previous post made it sound like I still have all the blooms from when it first arrived. But it seems most of the flowers that are still healthy are on original flower stems that had flowers on them when it arrived. So maybe if I remove all of them it will give the plant time to relax and give more energy next time around with the new flowers?