I don't think it's as simple as "how come this and not that?" There are likely several factors that determine whether or not the plant will bloom. Nutrition, stability and "degree of comfort" being three. (I am going to ignore genetics, as it seems obvious that some individuals will perform differently from their kin.)
We've beaten the first two well enough, so let's look at the "degree of comfort" thing: if the conditions are ideal and the resources are well provided, both in volume and frequency, then a plant will bloom sooner than it might if the conditions and/or resources are a bit dodgier. Flowering might be delayed even if the conditions are the same, but one plant gets its needed inputs more sporadically, even if the net amount of them is identical. It's as if the plant has a "comfort level", based upon its growing experience, that helps it "decide" what to do. I certainly cannot say that they do or don't "feel" such things, but it appears that way to me. A loose analogy might be a young couple considering starting a family - they might be biologically capable of doing so, but if the living situation, bills and income don't line up well, they are less likely to do so, waiting until they are better situated.
Taking the plant comfort level to the negative extreme, sometimes when a plant senses that its situation is leading to its demise, it'll bloom then as a last-ditch effort to reproduce before it dies.
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