Brugmansias

Hello All, here are my two old faithfull's that always seem the first to flower for me. They are housed in the unheated cold frame conservatory and both are prolific and heavily scented. Infact there is a indoor jasmine in there also, a there scent in the morning takes you back. Love it!!

here's my Arborea T and Pure Yellow Aurea

 

First year , I`ve growed the arborea and as much as not pretty as the rest of the brugs
I`m impressed by the fact that didn`t lose any leaves and even in the long cold winter is the only plant that actually started to grow up ....love it .

 

Your right, they are quite under valued as they are not as tarty as some of the colourful doubles, but for scent it always draws me back in for another sniff.

But fear not the tarty Brug's will arrive, and they love their picture taken

Wayne

 

Kristen gave me some seeds last year and couldn`t belive how easy the arborea is ,
then someone gave me a cutting of aurea , I was not a fun of brugmansia at all , untill
last year when all the other plants fail to flowering due of the cold summer , the brugmansia just didn`t care an flowered 3 time in year .....amazing plant , can`t wait for mine to start to move .

 

Interesting I've been thinking about these for a while and that maybe I should get one or two for a pot. I suppose now is the time to buy young plants? Any recommendations for an easy to grow variety and where to buy? Something not too large and prolific would be nice

 

I know what you mean about the heady scent Wayne. Here is mine I just walked past a few moments ago and it would be difficult sitting next to it where we have a dining table. As I can't tell one from another I don't know if it is the same as yours. It was the one I bought in Aldi a couple of years ago labelled as a B sanguinea, but obviously it is not. It's still growing but I have had hundreds of blooms on it now.

 

I've got a number of pointers for you Freddy - Wayne will hopefully chip-in if I have not got my facts straight

Need a big pot. Mine are in pots 2' diameter and 18" tall. Obviously a small plant doesn't need a pot that big, but it is important to pot on frequently so that they don't get pot bound (they will wilt really easily in small pot sizes if they get pot bound - not a problem, per se, but not ideal either )

Mine were in that large pot from the end of their first year (grown from seed) ...

Planted in about 50% rotted manure, and plenty of slow release ("Hundred and thousands") fertilizer

Make sure you get one that was taken from a cutting "above the fork", as they need to have reached maturity (which is when they first fork) before they will flower; cuttings taken from above the fork will flower without having to first grow to maturity.

This is a disadvantage of growing from seed as they will have to grow to 6' or more before they fork & flower (which will be quite late in the first growing season IME). Thereafter you can take cuttings for following years to keep them smaller - but because the flowers hang down having them "above" you eye-level is an advantage.

Get a "good do'er" ... the fancy ones I have are jolly hard work, for much less reward than the ones that are better do'ers. I don't know what varieties that is, but Wayne did give me some advice, so he can tell you that bit

Jungle Plants is worth a look. They have periodic sales - a bit later into the growing season for example.

Good luck with that part of the project!

 

Hiya Kristen, thanks for that, as informative as ever
I take it that they don't come in compact forms

 

Just to expand a little, what winter care do they need? Just keep frost free? Can they be cut back prior to winter storage? Bear in mind, I only have a 13'x10' greenhouse, and it gets a bit full come spring.

 

Freddy there are many on Ebay as well

 

You could grow Datura instead ... the Annual types (they ones that are perhaps perennial, but are more commonly grown from seed as annuals) are nice small bushes. Similar looking flower to a Brug - but is upright rather than hanging down (not sure that's a hard-and-fast difference, but its been like that on the ones that I have seen)

Yup, frost free will be fine

Yes, I cut mine back to just the "skeleton outline" of the branches.

Alternative is to take cuttings in the Autumn. You can take "really long cuttings" from Brugs, I've not done many but I think you can just root them in a jar of water (or at least get them to the stage where "root nodules" are forming on the stem and then pot them up to finish off the rooting process. I think you can also just put them in a "roll" - like a jam roll. Get a long sheet of plastic (cling film maybe?), spread your favourite rooting compost mix on it, place the cuttings on it, then roll it up from one end. A quick google will tell you whether I've completely lost it! or if my memory is still doing ok - considering my age and condition

 

Hiya Kristen.

As suggested by Sal, I've had a look on e-bay, and I notice that quite a few of them state that they are from "woody" cuttings, no mention of "above the fork". What do you reckon? One more question, last one for now, are they/should they be kept evergreen? Sorry for all the questions, but no doubt others are learning too

 

I would like to point out that although mine looks like it is in a pot (wooden) it is actually in the ground. The one in the pot to the right is the B suavolens I took a cutting from in the Autumn. Here is it's parent ...



I have always known Brugmansias as Angel's Trumpets as they are coming down from Heaven and Daturas as Devil's Trumpets as they are looking at you from Hell. Here is my Datura metel ...



Freddy, they are not 'evergreen' with me as such, I lose most of the leaves in the winter and they are just now filling out.

 

Freddy just to give you an idea , this plant was about 5 inches in March and by July started to flower , flowered again and again .....
Saying that , I`m talking of yellow aurea , they are bit hardy then the other ,
as Wayne suggest me Ebay is a good sourse for young brugmansia .
Unfortunatly I can`t afford any brugs at the moment but would love getting one or 2 more .

 

I reckon they are using "woody" to mean mature, so assuming a reputable vendor you should be fine Worst case they'll take most of the Summer growing before they flower ...

By the time I've cut mine back to "skeleton" in the late Autumn, to fit them into conservatory, they don't have much leaf on, and they drop some more over the winter (the leaf attachment to the stem is very brittle, they break off very easily, particularly once they start to "age" and go a bit yellow) ... so not really "evergreen" more sort of "almost dormant" if that makes sense?

Having said that, there are Winter flowering types - like Sanguinea - which are a different ball game as you need to keep them going in order to flower, but they are happy flowering at the lower temperatures we have in late Autumn / Winter

Here's my Datura, grown from seed that JWK kindly send me. I think it was labelled as something like "Yellow Angel" but it turned out a lot more like Victoria's "D. metel"