Hey and Welcome..
The only Canadian source I know of is Brugmansia Etc... They have some Beautiful stuff ..I have hear they send nice plants.. The prices are a bit high tho..Good Luck!

I'm canadian, so I've been looking around longer. As well as brugmansiaetc .com there is brugmansia-quebec .com This place sells rooted plants 6" - 25" no knowing which ones but I suppose the faster growing/bigger types would be on the bigger size. I don't know have a list of which grow big though. But Dany emailed me back to tell me...

In 2009 my best blooming brug are:
PINK: Super pink, BQ Melon d'eau, Pink Perfektion, BQ Rose Citron, Katrien Bonte, Salmon perfektion
WHITE/Peach: BQ Funny Maya, Marrakesch, Maya, Versicolor Peach, Jerad's Joy, Super Nova
Yellow/Orange: Versicolor Orange, Shooting Star, Langenbuscher Garten, Jamie, Inca Sun

You'll have to keep choosing English each time you changed the page. Check out the Catalogue tab.
-Sandy

Andres - Do you have a greenhouse or a setup similiar to a tropic environment? You have a pretty short outdoor growing season. Even with a brugmansia's ability to go to sleep/dormant a few months it won't help much if you can't get them to stay awake and grow long enough in a proper environment for a long enough period of time. Unless you'd be happy with a few blooms which actually would be nice up there. I'm currently asking the members here which ones bloom earliest. Check out that thread.

Sanguinea are the hardest to grow and usually only those on the West Coast can grow them - very high humidity.
- Sandy

Thanks Chena- checked out their website, nice stuff but expensive!!

Sandy- Thanks for the replying so soon. I checked out their website and they even sell brugmansia sanguinea!Have you not had any luck with this one??? Does it need alot of water and cool temps?

I live in Edmonton and on average have about 140 frost-free days. Is this too short??? I have heard of people overwintering their brugs in a cool basement and then waking them up in March/April and putting them outdoors in May and bringing them in by late september depending on the forecasted weather. When do Brugs usually bloom?? And can a first year plant bought from these mail-order companies bloom in their first year? Thanks

Hi Andre - Firstly, I don't think anybody in the interior of the continental America has had much success growing this plant and if they do it's because they keep it in a greenhouse most, if not then all year. It requires a lot of humidity. You're close to the coast though, so you just might be able to pull it off.

If you can wake them up early and have them in a tropical environment, like a greenhouse, keeping humidity up to, then I'd say you can grow most brugs. But don't ask me which ones, I work with mostly the hardy ones like Charles Grimaldi, and Frosty Pink. But I've heard so much success with so many other kinds being tougher than was first believed that now I'm going to gamble my garden space for a few more kinds.

The quebec place grows theirs in a greenhouse all winter, so you're getting pure healthy plant, 6 months of growth with no question as to whether their first year outdoors will have stunted branches (from being grown in a dry indoor environment all winter).

My brugs have been cut low in prior years, and so it took until mid-Sept to get my first good flushes. You'll have a 6mos headstart on me for prior years. But this last winter, I kept several with the Y's, so I'll have early blooming this year. Except for my biggest Charlie, way too big.

As for which will bloom the first year, check out my other post 'Which brugs bloom early' or something like that.
I'd definately tell you to get Inca Sun, a yellow. The quebec place told me the Super Pink can flower without the Y or maybe he meant that it flowers/Y's really early. Both of these are single blooms but for the constant and prolific flowering, I think they're worth the money.
I'd of gotten both of these as plants but I've tapped myself out.

If I were in Zone 1 I'd try these...lol - Sandy

Hi Andres,

You will have no trouble growing brugs. My SIL was growing them in Calgary with no problem. They are very easy to care for and overwinter. I keep mine in my basement and put them to sleep.

I do not keep mine in my greenhouse.

I would suggest that you come join BGI - Brugmansia Growers International where we have a group of Canadian Brug growers who can help you out.

of information and knowledgable people; not to say that there is not the same here.

:))

hi andres

send me an email with you email address...

thx
diggy

Hi Diggy- I dont know how to send you an email. I dont see your contact information.

My email is albornoz at ualberta.ca

I know I'm a terrible person so don't give me any grief about what I'm going to say. Andres you can receive unrooted brug cuttings from the US. I've mailed plants outside of the states without claiming anything. I just write "photos do not crush or bend" on a padded envelope or "fragile" on a box. I do understand the reasons for restrictions on importing/exporting plant material and don't send anything with soil and hopefully haven't sent anything that could be potentially invasive. I also snatch seeds from public gardens. I can think of worse transgressions. lol

I have also sent plants to Canada.. Declared them.. Not a Problem..I have sent tons of cuttings and seed.. and have never had any problem...
Karyn !! I would NEVER Snag a seed from a Public Garden..LMAO!!!!! Right!!!! ;0)

Kylie

Just for clarity, he asked about the Sanguinea first, and so my first response is regarding the Sanguinea. .

He'd like his brug to flower this year like many of us and early blooming enough to make his efforts worth it. 4 1/2 months is not that long...even in my zone, with the plants I have, I have to keep the Y to get it to flower earlier than late September - that's with a 6 mos growing season.

If you want to help Andre and the rest of us, start naming an/some early bloomers you know of.

I personally don't value risking my money, garden space or my efforts on plants that won't be worth the effort and resources, as long as I know what my risks are, then I'm fine. Mind you, some of us are enough inform to take our own risks for posterity...lol And I certainly know that some brugs might just take a couple of years to bloom, even in my zone. The first year just to get the Y, and if not, a big root ball for the following year to establish that Y, that's for the late bloomer types. I have no early bloomers - until some people started breaking the zone barrier/advice and grew them successfully and stored them successfully, mostly I was sticking to the hardys myself, until this year. Loads of new info coming out, but we still need to know their names.

Andre - your cold storage time is 7 1/2 mos. Keep in mind to have enough storage room and stable winter temps in storage/sleep/dormancy around 40F, never near freezing, obviously for as many as you think to get. There has been somebody here that was in zone 3 and was growing these, I hope of the people who respond to you will be him/her. I hope you'll come back and tell us which brugs they suggest, we'd all like to hear. No names need be mentioned - absolutly not necessary.

Personally, if I were you, I'd stick with the Inca Sun, already rooted and grown in a greenhouse to get you started with a consistently flowering brug . Mind you, even a cutting or heck, seeds of this one, would do you well. See what you can find with the other suggestions of the early blooming brugs.
Karyn and Kylie, I know you both have said so before, about the shipping, but I'm not one to just presume on people or to take too big a risk, as in, I'd need it spelled out. I still envision it as too much a gamble/risk. I looked at the brug sellers in the states and none specify that they are willing to send here - again, probably because it's risky. Thanks for all your kindness.

Happy Spring - Sandy

Sandy I'm not talking about brug nurseries or Ebay sellers shipping outside the country. I'm talking about trades or cuttings for postage. I couldn't really say which brugs bloom earliest. I have varieties that might bloom early one season and late the next. I have varieties that will consistantly bloom while small but they aren't necessarily the earliest flowering ones.

My SIL lives in Claresholm, ALberta and she's able to grow brugs and have them flower without any difficulty. I sent here pink suaves and white suaves. They flowered well before September. As a matter of fact, they bloomed in time for the local garden tour and she was asked to be a stop for the tour.

I think keeping them in pots would be the best for unpredictable weather. That way if you have to haul them in for an evening or two, you can.

I do not store my brugs at 40 F. I put mine in my basement which ranges between 58 -70F. They wake up easily and start growing right away.

If you have any questions, just send an e-mail.

:)))

Sandy your environment can play a BIG part in the blooming process along with care... I am Z8 but that can be very different from someone who lives in a different state/country that may be a Z8 as well.. There is not a schedule you can go by.. We all have to grow what we like and see what works for us. Keep what works and cull the rest..Some are more tolerant of the heat than others and some like the cool weather better..But what will bloom first???

Karyn - Yeah I understood that, but it's not fall. And yes, I expect if our care for the plant changes so will the outcome, for better or for worse. Trial and error to find the best ideal for a particular species.

Greenthumb - good advice on the pot idea. Calgary has even a shorter growing season then Edmonton almost by a month. So Sauveolens are in, I hadn't heard of them myself. You might want to find out for us how long it took her to get half decent flushes. I can't seam to find these, is it my spelling?

Sure you can keep them on indoors if you have the room and the humidity and light and you'd still have to feed them to - that's for newbies, and no we don't fertilize the sleepers. just to keep that straight.

Everyone - I'll take this opportunity to show my picture of a stunted brug branch. I know for a fact, that allowing growth in a less than suitable environment for a tropical plant is going to cause problems with their growth, it's called stunting. See link. The stunted branch has been removed and potted up is more than twice the age of the other branches left on. This is not the only one, they all had the same choked growing characteristic that had been rooted indoors, but I did get an excellent rootball for that 1st year outside. As to get it to that Y that's your call, I have no idea how fast you'll find your own species of brugs will grow.

Chena - I'm trying to gently warn people they may not be getting bloom flushes their first year regarding a lot of brugs especially with such a short growing season - zone 3. I personally would be pissed to go through all that trouble and used up all that sunny garden space for a flower, none, or a small few and had not been informed, when that's what I asked about. The largest expense is not in acquiring the plant....be nice Chena...lol...some of us people are not as blessed and short on time and resources. I certainly envy you.

If I had known 4 years ago what I know now, I'd have more exotic brugs had I known what to do to get the best outcome for subsequent years. And I'd of had the know how and the patience to grow out their Y's in that crucial first year or the second, if that's what it takes. I gave away a double orange because it didn't Y in it's first year, I know it stunted....it didn't Y in the second year either but I didn't let any other branch(s) grow to see the growth rate. I'm still moping about it. Just didn't know enough and neither did anybody else regarding this specific problem. I also would of left some Y on every brug through the winter, because thats what it takes to get those flushes of flowers before my eyes and nose as earliest as possible in my own zone 6 growing season. Except for these newer varieties and some experience from our members with what brugs we have had among us.

It wasn't that hard for us to put together a list of promising brugs that could bloom in their first year and to figure out the obvious value to our Northern gardeners for it. I believe that list would appeal to a whole lot of people. Nope, I don't think I've mis-perceived the desires of our general audience at all. But I wouldn't turn down a favored one or whatever was given me without giving it a shot...I'd just want to be informed and know what to expect.

Humbly yours - Sandy

Re: The link - I believe the stunting is due to either, too dry an environment or not enough fertilizer.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sandy,
I sent her a few rooted sticks that were about 3/4" in diameter and approx. 15" long. She had good flushes the following year. Must be the good clean air compared to my southern Ontario air. your spelling is off a bit Suaveolens is a group that has a flower position like Frosty Pink, Jean Pasco etc. Sort of hang out at a 45 degree angle. I'm sure the versicolors (which hang straight down) will do well too. As others have mentioned, I sure there is tremendous variability in performance and growth given different environments - you never know until you try.

I have a brug friend who lives up in Sudbury who has an even shorter season than myself and she does great with her brugs.

I'm not so sure that I would keep them awake over the winter. Only from my experiences with my brugs, they can be magnets for aphids and white fly. I prefer to put them to sleep - no bugs no real care - other than a little watering.

do you have control over the temp that you over-winter your brugs? If you do, try keeping them a bit warmer - they will wake up faster etc. I have some that receive light from a fish tank and they really don't sleep.

One of my smaller brugs (about 6' tall) has been my most prolific. One season it had around 300 buds and blooms on it. Not sure if it is the variety or if it was the fertilizer. I was given some leftovers of a brand I hadn't heard of before and I used it up.

Don't get upset over the double orange. I had 2 HG's. I was happy as happy could be. Could not get them to bloom no matter what. Same with a lot of people. I left one out to freeze this past winter. I'm trying another variety that is a double orange and we'll see how it performs.

I think you are correct to point out that it takes a few years for the cuttings to "grow up" and develop a good root system before you should expect a grande performance.

In addition to the blooms, I also like the shapes of my brugs. I don't cut down many of my brugs. I do cut them to a manageable height (6 - 9' tall ) and carefully wiggle them into the basement. My yard is relatively flat and they add landscape interest even if they are not blooming.

I try different feeding regimes on some of my brugs - if I have time. Mother Nature also influences how they grow. I try to give them a few years - 3 to 5 yrs to come around.

This past year was not very hot during the summer - brug life was not as fruitful; until the fall. Oh well, there's always next year.

I suspect fertilizing was a big issue for your stunted brug. I had my first three brugs in pots and they became terribly root bound. I had to given them lots of fertilizer to get flushes out of them. This was when I was afraid to plant them in the ground. I ended up giving them to the Toronto Botanical Gardens. Then I learned about root pruning and how tough brugs can be.

:))

Edmonton has a shorter outdoor growing season but it makes up for that with their length of daylight during that season. I have family in Edmonton and have seen a Brug on the front porch 3 doors down for the past 3 years. I have given Candida double white to family in Calgary and it bloomed well from a dormant state for 2 summers until it got caught in an early hard freeze towards the end of August. Calgary also has long daylight hours.
It may take you a season or two to learn what works best for you and your plant but it IS possible to have a happy Brugmansia there. There was a nursery in Edmonton that was selling Brugs a 5 years ago, I forget the name but will ask my daughter if she remembers it when I speak to her next Andres. This is a pic I took of their biggest Brugmansia at the time....

{{gwi:462462}}

I'm surrounded by factories. We don't have air, we have pollution here...lol

Thanks for the empathy and advice on why they may be stunting. But it's not the lighting. As far as I've been able to deduce, tall and lanky does not necessarily mean it's stunted, just too little light sometimes. But when outside, if they grow that way, lankier, small or slower compared to the other new outdoor grown branches, they are stunted. I had big indoor grown lush leaves on all the ones stunted that first winter of theirs. They were so big the first year, I potted them up to a big water bottle, way before spring. One of them is still in one - the soil needs changing though (4th Year White NOID). The main indoor winter-grown branchs of the 3 brugs just wouldn't adjust to outside. Just too thick skinned I suppose...lol The others outgrew them by twice the size, branches and leaves, before I took it off.

Now this year, I have tall and thin, lanky branches which keep losing their leaves and I am predisposed to think they are stunted, but I don't know this, nor probably will I, as I already cut 2 down to give the new growth only 1 month of inside rather than the whole 6 mos, but now with humidity added. Sometimes, I wish I hadn't yet though, I feel I jumped the gun and should of waited the month. It's one little snip and there's no turning back. Looking for optimum outcome here..lol I had to make the call. These are my new double pink Monika cuttings I boasted that I had won off eBay last fall. Nice rootballs now with fungus added on the roots now.

Compost does do better than just Miracle Grow fertilizer. A lot of people around here complained how badly their gardens performed this year - mother nature wise.

I used the water gel crystals last year, and they did much better than I expected not having used the compost that same year. The potted Frosty Pink especially benefited from them.

I bought some mycorrhizal fungus to apply on their roots this year. I read that if even a little is applied on while they are young, or a lot if bigger, that it'll stay with the plants all their lives.

About waking them up early. I wrote on that in this forum somewhere just a couple of weeks ago or so. I had just happened upon an article. Yeah, I never woke them up ahead of time before, and it's good advice. I'm betting that a month inside won't be too much a threat to growth. I need something to lift them off the cold basement floor.

Kylie sent me some seeds for postage, so I'm going to try seeds again. Being enabled now I ordered a different kind of double orange seeds, they're said to be prolific bloomers and robust growers so we'll see. They are a cross though. I hope to get yellow, orange and pink all in the same flower. I saw some MEMckenzies that look like each flower was a different color. I'm getting those to (unknown pollinator) and others. It'll be an interesting and exciting summer to say the least.

Be thankful I cut this down ...lol - Sandy

Thanks everybody for all the input. You guys here in Brugmansias really awnser questions fast. I left a question on the ginger forum in mid feb and not a single awnser!

Ruth-Ann that is a beautiful brug and now seeing it was taken in Edmonton gives me hope that I will be succesful! And its true we get lots of daylight at the height of the summer. We also get slightly warmer nights than Calgary but nothing like the warm night of southern ontario.

First, I don't mind long posts. I can be long winded myself. There is so much info to get accross to paint the proper picture -that's okay.

I have to say that when my brugs are outside growing, I don't see long lanky growth. To me, that says not enough light. Are you referring to indside or outside?

If your brugs are not adjusting to outside, is there a possibility that you rushed the transition for dark to light and they got sunburned. I did that once. I now wait for a period of overscast to bring them out - 2 - 3 days is nice.

If you have some of your brugs growing inside, then I can understand the lanky growth. Even with lights - the spectrum is not sufficient and likely the intensity is not enough also. I try to minimize the growth and just get them to hang on.

Not so sure I would try for a month of growth inside. Maybe try just a couple and see what happens. A month to start to wake up - sure. No fert ilizer more light. Not too much water - will make them too heavy too carry out if the are large.

Were they from a US seller?

If you can get Premier Pro mix (I use the BX) you don't have to buy the mycorrhizal fungus - it's already mixed in.

I think there is a benefit. Some people say that the fungus can be destroyed buy high concentration of fertilizer. Can't recall exactly.

I'll be playing with some seeds soon too. They are an apetizer to spring.

:)

What does fall have to do with it? You can take a cutting anytime. Most people cut their plants back in the fall to prepare them for dormancy so that's when the majority of cuttings are available but you don't have to take cuttings in the fall only.

hi all

i shipped a couple brugs to my sister in moose jaw and a friend in saskatoon...saskatchewan...last march...
they both had nice blooms for most of the summer and into fall....if there's a will,then there's a way...
cheers and good luck..
diggy

Andres, my daughter is pretty sure it was Salisbury Greenhouses & Landscaping we were at that had the Brugmansia in 2005.

Ruth Ann

Andres, my apologize, your a she. We have tons of those male/female names in our family, Sandy, Dayna, Adrienne, Jacky, but I guessed anyway. I figured you'd know why, if, the mistake was made.

I like that one Ruth Ann pictured to, it looks like it Y's shorter than Charlie which is good for hauling inside and earlier blooms.

Karyn - still mulling that over...lol. Yours and Kylie's offer. Despite the risks. I have so many seeds to wonder after right now. I should of thought of this before. Are your cuttings coming from last years growth?

Jeff, (greenthumb) When I have the time I can help others with more details, it's time consuming that's for sure. Now it's spring, and the warmer zones get to greet spring, which also means loads of chores to do. Mine's coming soon.

The lankiness is an indoor growing issue.

Yep, I only did the 2 plants but I'd of chopped these down in another month just because they are that lanky when they're outdoors. I don't know for sure if they're stunted, them being different species. But as my big robust growing Charles Grimaldi's are also this way, equally so, and this one is said to be a robust grower to, then I conclude that it is somewhat if not seriously stunted - I call it bonsai'd, not something you want done to a big flowered plant.

I could of waited a couple months into spring and compared any new growth to find out but these are pitifully lanky and I'm just waisting my plants energy. On the other hand, I've now deprived it of very beneficial leaves. New leaves coming up already though. That humidifier/mister is pretty noisy by the way - just one of those 1 gall type in an enclosed area.

Thanks for the heads up on the Premier Pro-mix (BX) with mycorrhizal fungus already mixed in. I bought what it straight up for adding to plants already in the garden to.
There isn't all the much in the little bags - 150grams. They say enough for about 10 smaller plants. I'll probably go skimpier with it. They want it to touch the roots of the host plant so I'll put it straight on some areas, rather than at the bottom of the planting hole as directed. Just experimenting right now.

;) - Sandy

I didn't see this mentioned, but, Lankiness can also come from overwatering as well as overfertilizing, and some cultivars are just plain floppy..

I am new to Brugs. I understand Inca Sun and Super Pink are good starter ones? I'd love to have a fragrant one that is easy for a beginner. Can anyone suggest one or have one of these that I might be able to trade a small piece with a hoya cutting?

Hi everyone, just found this group via google. I live in southern Alberta, Canada and am looking to sell some of my brugs due to lack of space and my new home doesn't have as much natural light as the one I had in Edmonton and Calgary.

I have had luck with mine blooming as early as January. I did notice that brugs, like many other plants, are sensitive to being re-located e.g. when these are kept in pots and brought indoors over the winter months, which is necessary in our zone.

What do you use for fertilizer? I have to look for the instruction sheet I received a long time ago from a grower in Germany. This grower had suggested to use different fertilizers at different times of the year. Have you tried this?

Any idea where I might list my plants for sale and where I would be able to look up the going rates?

Thanks everyone, Meike

Meike, There is a Brugmansia Canada site on Fb. You could ask to join and list your Brugs for sale on that site.

rcharles_gw (Canada), thanks for the suggestion, I just joined the group.

Do you have a web site, or a list of available plants?

https://nicholsonsnursery.com/