Brenda, I'm going to piggyback on your question. I hope you don't mind. Mine, potted, is also blooming and with unopened buds too. What is weird is that it is a pale pink brug, but one of the y's has ivory flowers. Is this unusual?

Also, when you made your cuttings, do you cut below the Y, thus yielding a slingshot-shaped cutting, or should it be cut entirely within the Y, creating a straight, single stem?

claire in sanford

My peach angel trumpet (don't know whether it is a brugmansia or a datura); but the blooms hang down. The problem is that it is approximately 10 feet tall, with what I assume is immature seed (color is yet green), and I want the seed to mature before I take cuttings. I don't know whether they will mature now or not but the temperature here is going down in the 40's. However, it is in a pretty good microclimate. The pot is contained by a trailer hitch, and it is between two buildings, one facing east, and the other facing west. Since the temperature has just started falling, I have mulched the roots, and plan to protect the foilage by encircling it with twine and enclosing it in plastic overnight until the seed mature. There are two poles on either side of the pot so I think that I can do this until the seed mature. The question is am I to optomistic or is this possible until the seed mature. Also, will green seed mature without doing this, and how do I tell when they are mature. This is my second winter with the plant; but I placed it in a bright window in our double-wide trailer last year; and did not prune it as I want to do this year. Will you please also, in someone experienced in Angel Trumpet pruning and rooting, guide me through this process or tell me where I can find a resource for expert advice. Thank you, as I am an amateur where rooting and pruning angel trumpets are concerned.

Claire, my pink brug opens creamy white and then turns pink. Some of my others do the same, only taking on their yellow or orange tones after opening. As for cuttings, I've read all kinds of things about the "Y", but I think that just refers to the first branch point. So unless you want to cut the parent way back, I'd take tip cuttings.

Brenda, if you're wondering where to put as yet unrooted cuttings, I'd go for at least a little warmth to encourage rooting. Maybe start in the house and move them into the garage later after they've got some roots and you can pot them up. That way you can keep an eye on them. Last time I rooted cuttings over winter I did it in the kitchen window and had to watch out for mushiness at the end. Or you could root them in some potting medium in the garage with a heating pad underneath. As for the big ones, I don't bring my pots into the garage until after they start to go dormant. They're easier to store after the leaves are off and then I don't have to worry about white fly. I won't be hauling mine in until it freezes.

Cuttings stored in water in a cold room may take a while to root. Cuttings stored in dark would probably root but then would need light to thrive. Most people only store dormant plants in the dark and put cuttings in warmth and light to get good rooting and growth.

If you cut above the "Y" and flower buds have begun to develop these can often go ahead and bloom - which looks kinda odd to have a massive flower on a tiny cutting. I've seen basically any cutting taken from a blooming plant go ahead and bloom. If you have cuttings with full buds on them I would put them in a large vase in the house and let them bloom just to enjoy them, and then trim off the flowers and try to get them to root for you.

I have much better luck rooting brugs from corky old stems rather than soft green stems. You can set the branches aside and let them dry a bit before trying to root them. I usually cut off most of the leaves so I can see the stems. An 8 inch cutting has enough stored food to initiate rooting.

therahort -
Most brugs are pollinated by bats in the tropics so it is very rare to have brugs form fruit here in the Carolinas. There are a few websites that show brug and datura fruit so you should be able to identify your plant. Most of the people I know that make their own hybrids hand pollinate their plants.

I have also had brugs bloom bright white out at the fairgrounds (last years display garden) and then bloom cream this year in my yard. So I guess the colors can vary from one site to the next.

Thanks, John, all those bud-laden branches are in a vase inside now. I am very excited to see some blooms after waiting so long, and now I will, thanks to your advice. (If they fail to bloom now, I will also return to you for the blame!) I put a bucket of cuttings in the crawlspace, but I guess I'll drag them out into lighted space - or maybe I'll just cut some more and try both places - after all, my brugs really gave me lots of branches without blooms to cut.

I was raised Catholic which kinda makes me used to blame.

Here's a shot of the ol' brug patch before I go out and start choppin them down.

{{gwi:588001}}

Ok, that does it. Am I an idiot? How come when I embed my photos they come out the size of postage stamps? This photo is 12 inches wide so why does it display so small? Hopefully if you click on the link it will display at normal size.... I give up.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:588001}}

Actually according to the people at the American Brugmansia and Datura Society (ABADS)there are plenty of pollinators of brugmansias. They include butterflies, hummingbird or sphinx moths, honeybees, regular bats of several varieties, bumble bees and hummingbirds. The reason most people don't get seeds is due to the fact that brugs are self-infertile. It takes pollen from a different cultivar of brugmansia to pollinate another cultivar of brugmansia. For instance, pollen from a Charles Grimaldi can pollinate a Frosty Pink flower, but pollen from a Charles Grimaldi flowerv can not pollinate another flower on the same Charles Grimaldi plant or even a flower on a separate Charles Grimaldi plant.

Brenda, I have successfully overwintered brug cuttings in an unheated garage that has windows. As John pointed out, the older the wood, the easier it is to get it to root and survive over the winter in water.

John, just because it's called a posting, doesn't mean you need 'postage' I used a magnifiying glass and still can't appreciate your brugs...looks like a ladder and a fence in there?

But thank you for the info...on the Brug Forum they are all about... NEVER cut below the Y...like it's a circumcision violation or something. I'm going out there in a couple of minutes to cut my Y's with blooms.

Karen...no danger of my cutting the parent back too much b/c the parent is a gangly amazon...10 ft. maybe. i can slash away and still have a tall drink of brug leftover.

I had a seed pod form last year on my yellow brug (that's been growing pretty happily for 3 years outside, in the ground)...I kept it around as a curiousity, but finally threw it away because it had been 4-5 months, and I read somewhere that the viability of brugmansia seeds declines very quickly.

I didn't baby mine this year, and I guess I'm paying for that, since it's just now Y-ing and almost has it's first bloom ready to open...I wonder if it will make it before it gets knocked down by frost.

Last year we wintered our potted Angel Trumpets downstairs in front of our picture windows. They did great and in the spring we planted them. There are about 4ft. tall and have bloomed several times.

I want them to grow to tree size so we can enjoy the flowers more as they hang down. My husband tells me we should prune them back all most to the ground every winter.

We can't come to an agreement about this and agreed to let this site make the decision for us.

Thanks.

B

I'm trying to winterover my Brug in a greenhouse (solar heat only) frame. Do they need any further protection?

tnlefty - there are certain types of brugs that only get about 5 feet tall while other types can get really big (I have one in my yard that gets over 15 feet tall!). I don't have a list of which is which - but can tell you that in my yard the variegated leaved ones stay shorter than the solid green leaved forms and the white or yellow/orange ish flowered ones get bigger than the pinks. The biggest one I grow is a wild pure species one but it doesn't bloom early and the flowers aren't as showy as the others.

The best way to get the biggest show in the summer is to keep them inside during the winter and plant outside after it has really warmed up (night time lows above 60 degrees). Once they are actively growing (lots of green leaves sprouting), feed them and feed them and feed them again! you cannot over feed them during the summer. I pound a tree feed spike near the root zone and still feed them three times a week with Miracle Grow. They also don't like to sit in water, so mound them up so that extra water drains away and water them every day. The more branches they form the more blooms they will have.

Persiancat Gardener - in the Raleigh area you can just leave them out in the ground but they do freeze back to soil level each winter. Most folks pile up a big pile of leaves on top of them to keep the winter rain from rotting the roots.

I dig some of mine up and chop back the main trunk to a few feet and drag them into a storage shed for the winter. It keeps them cool and dry which makes them go dormant. As long as it is above freezing they'll be fine. There usually isn't enough sunlight (days are short) in the wintertime for them to really grow much so dormant storage makes more sense but plenty of people like them in greenhouses because they will often continue to bloom and they are soooo fragrant.