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| I've found a new obession and it's Brunfelsia! I read that their scents are lovely and they are very fragrant at night time.
Im eyeing both the B. nitida and B. gigantea right now. Some also commented that B. jamaicensis and B. americana are also wonderful. How easy are these plants? And please tell me your favorite(s). |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Hi, Kemistry. They are very easy, so don't worry on that score. They are robust and grow quite fast. As to which-- I grew several about 5 years ago that were quite fragrant at dusk, with the fragrance wafting, but unfortunately threw my notes out. I'm just starting again with new ones, and won't find out again which are the best till next summer. But I' sure someone else can fill you in on that. The flowers are big beautiful white tubey flowers, and the leaves are shiny. Quite an attractive plant. |
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| Thanks Mehitabel! Which Brunfelsia are you currently growing? I just placed an order for the B. nitida and B. gigantea. Very looking forward to growing them. |
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| Kemistry, You will love both Brunfelsia nitida and B. gigantea (also known as B. lactea). B. nitida tends to rest at the more spicey/clove end of the the fragrance spectrum whereas B. gigantea is a little sweeter. Both have wonderful, clean fragrances with great wafting ability, especially if it is humid and warm. And both plants are quite accommodating and non-fussy. There is quite a bit of (mis)information online saying that Brunfelsias resent root disturbance and will die or become stunted if you transplant or repot them, but I have never found that to be the case. |
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| I absolutely agree with ispahan about the misinformation about Bruns. I repot more or less continually as a plant outgrows its pot, with no problems. Thanks for the notes on fragrances, ispahan. Kemistry, I loved them from before so I bought all the white ones I could get my hands on-- nitida, lactea, jamaicensis. I think I have four-- will update when I check downstairs in a day or so. You will absolutely love these next summer when they bloom almost nonstop. |
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| Thanks ispahan and mehitabel for your comments. I love night fragrances so this is so exciting. Will update when the plants are here. |
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- Posted by meyermike_1micha (mikerno_1@yahoo.com) on Wed, Dec 8, 10 at 14:04
| OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! If you want to know what my now new best fragrant plant is, it is this!! Especially the one called Easy to grow.. Mike |
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| Hi Kemistry, Did your new additions arrive? Where did you get them? Not that I need another plant but maybe I should buy this too lol Hi Mike! Our plant wants are never-ending lol -Bo |
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| Hi Bo (how are you and your mangoes doing? :)) I bought them from Logee and they just shipped the plants out today. Logee is having a 20% off sale on all items tomorrow and wed so it is probably a good time to grab them (code: email20) |
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| Mike, what is the botanical name of the Night Lady? |
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| Hi Toai, my Graham is doing surprisingly well (in her winter quarters aka my bathroom lol) though, my Zebda is quite naked but I am hoping she makes a recovery come springtime. I will make stop at Logee's. Thanks for the code ( : How's your plumeria and other fragrant plants? |
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| My brunfelsias havent arrived today, maybe today. I'll post a picture when they are here. Bo, if I remember correctly one of your mangoes had flowered this summer? Did it give you any fruits? |
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| Toai, yep, the Graham had beautiful flower spikes (and I could even see tiny baby mangoes). But the squirrels decided that it was not to be... They chopped off the branch with all the flower spikes! I was very upset and disappointed. This next year I will have to be better armed and prepared! My friend gave me a dwarf singapore. I too was disappointed with the scent and the flower size. Also, I have a Celadine cutting potted in a water bottle with Christmas lights wrapped around it. Though, I have to tell ya your orange jasmine and jujube seedlings did not survive in my care. I am afraid I let a few of them burn in the scorching sun. : ( I didn't kill any of my tropical fruit trees so I too think I did pretty good and learned a lot as well! How's your ylang ylang? |
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- Posted by meyermike_1micha (mikerno_1@yahoo.com) on Fri, Dec 17, 10 at 9:56
| Bo.. I too am VERY disappointed with the flower size and fragrance...Thank God it does not occupy any space in my house,because if it had to, I would rid of it.. Kemistry: Did your plants arrive yet? I hope so and safe and sound in this brutal cold..:-)You sure did do well. Hi Mehitabel: I am not sure of the name..But I can easliy find out for you..There are three different white kinds I have.. Mike |
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| Hi, Mike. Thanks for the reply I would dearly love to have the names of all of your fragrant bruns, but especially the Dame de Noche, if it's no trouble. I want to be sure I find that one I loved before. It wafted the scent around at dusk, just lovely. I've bought some, but haven't picked up a fragrance yet, and this time of year, the fragrance isn't there. So I'm hoping to be sure to have one that's lushly fragrant for next summer. Thanks again. |
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| Bo - another thing i like about mangoes is the smell of their leaves when crushed. I think the scent is nice :o) I'll let you know when my orange jasmine has fruits so you can have a replacement; this plant is very easy to start from seeds. Maybe sometime next year since my plant hasn't been blooming lately. The dwarf Ylang did well for a while, then it got scales. I removed all the leaves now it's a bit naked. It hasn't grown much this year. I did grab a non-dwarf ylang (the tree version) on ebay recently; it looks like a seedling in its first or second year; the tree is about 4-5 ft so hopefully it'll bloom in 1-2 years. Mike - it must be nice to visit Logee's in person. Next time you are there look for a plant call Telosma Cordata; this plant has an extremely beautiful fragrance (and you can even eat the flower buds+young shoots) :) |
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here are my two plants:  gigantea on the left and nitida on the right |
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| Hi Toai, your bruns are very nice looking and healthy too! Do you know how often they flower? Hi Mike, let me know next time you visit Logees. I am happy to pay for them. Thanks! -Bo |
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| Sadly my B Nitida got underwatered and never recovered; The Gigantea did recovery and has been doing great. Even with the lack of sunlight it only lost 1 leave since its arrival. I've expecting an Americana from Accents (accentsforhomeandgarden) and will reorder the Nitida in the Spring. Bo - I think Brunfelsia blooms Spring through Fall, but mainly in the Summer? (hope you are doing well, sorry for the late response! :)) |
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| About blooming times, I have several that have bloomed several times this winter under HID lights. The blooms come in clusters at the tips of branches that are semi-hard wood (brown, but not tough old wood and not soft green new wood). These are plants I got this summer. Clusters are 4-8 flowers at once. This is what happened several years ago when I had bruns, too. However, the flowers don't seem to be fragrant in winter. It could be that they are fragrant at "dusk", as they are in summer, but I'm never down there when the lights go off. So you can expect flowers while they are fairly young. Pinching tips to make them branch more would mean more flowers, I believe. |
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| The tip-pinching is a great idea, I think sometimes we forget to do that (or some of us don't have the courage to?) These plants are so attractive.. I love the look of my Gigantea. Besides the B. Americana I'm also expecting a Densiflora. And I'm waiting on Logee to stock up on Jamaicensis so I can grab it along with the Nitida replacement. I think that should complete my Brunfelsia collection :) |
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| kemistry - I've never heard of B. densiflora. I have B. densifolia and love it. As long as the temp are close to 80, it is a continous bloomer. Here is central Florida, they grow into a tree 10+. Small, 5" long tubular blooms - IT IS my favorite! I have several different ones and none hold a candle to this one. The others are OK. They are fragrant. I just hate waiting a month - 6 weeks in between blooms........cheryl |
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| Cheryl - I think it's that one; I just did a search on it, ToP-tropicals called it Densifolia while the place I ordered it at (kartuz) called it Densiflora. This plant came last week, though it arrived looking dehydrated so I'm currently trying to nurture it. The leaves are long and slender, very interesting. I'm so looking to the sniffing time; it sounds wonderful from your comments. |
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| That's denisfolia. Give it plenty of (sun)light, 'cause they grow in full sun here.......cheryl |
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| I ordered an Americana from Accents but they sent me Brunfelsia lactea instead, (I guess they ran out of Americana) Does anyone know if Lactea is the same as Gigantea? |
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| Judging from Ispahan's posting above it's the same plant. Oh well, the hunt for Americina is still on. Lol. :0) |
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- Posted by robert1971 6b (My Page) on Tue, Mar 15, 11 at 17:13
| Ack! I just ordered an americana from Pepper's. I already have a lactea from Zone 9 Tropicals so I hope I don't get a plant I already have. Was it labeled lactea or are you judging by looks alone or what? I too have gone brunfelsia nuts this year and now have nitida, lactea and have gigantea on the way and hopefully americana! The funny part is I've never smelled any of them yet. |
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| yup it' labeled lactea, they even wrote "sub." on the order receipt. I would suggest that you send them an email telling them to not substitute the plant if they are out, just in case. :) All of my brunfelsias are still small, i cannot wait til the end of this year - they should be blooming by then. :) |
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- Posted by robert1971 6b (My Page) on Thu, Mar 17, 11 at 14:59
| Thanks for the info, kemistry. When our brunfelsias finally bloom we should compare notes to see which scent we like the most. ;) |
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| quick update: my first brunfelsia bloom! Brunfelsia lactea, purchased from Accents:
smells so nice!!! Like a blend of gardenia and carnation. |
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- Posted by sambacmouse (My Page) on Tue, Jun 14, 11 at 6:53
| That isn't fair mine is is a 3ft tall bush and hasn't put out a single flower, maybe too much shade. Your description of the fragrance sounds nice, I can't wait for mine to flower now. |
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- Posted by robert1971 6b (My Page) on Tue, Jun 14, 11 at 9:18
| I hear you, sambacmouse. Mine is growing vigorously but still no flower buds. Maybe it needs to be more pot bound before it flowers or maybe the cool temperatures in kemistry's apartment has brought on flowering. I know lactea is from high elevation forests at the summits of mountains in eastern Puerto Rico so it likes cooler weather. Maybe I'll start putting mine in the cooler basement at night just for the heck of it? I've done wacker things for plants! :) -r |
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| It's so nice to finally have some fragrance, this year has been so cold so things grow slowly for me. I'm sure they will bloom for you two soon! :). And Robert, please don't abuse the poor thing ;) |
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- Posted by sambacmouse (My Page) on Wed, Jun 15, 11 at 10:05
| kemistry have you got your Brunfelsia jamaicensis yet? Brunfelsia jamaicensis is the one I hear people absolutely raving about in terms of fragrance. I would like to know if it is really that special. |
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- Posted by robert1971 6b (My Page) on Wed, Jun 15, 11 at 10:45
| You're a bad influence, sambacmouse! Now you've got me wanting B. jamaicensis. :) I have read that they can have root issues especially in the winter so hopefully I can resist the temptation of yet another brunfelsia. I can cosole myself by knowing that B. gigantea has gotten rave reviews for its scent so I'll just have to wait until mine blooms. -r |
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| My jamaicensis is still small. But if it does flower, I'll keep you posted on its scent. :) Right now I have 5: lactea, gigantea, nitidia, jamaicensis and densifolia (densiflora). |
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| everyone.. my brun jamaicensis is blooming... The scent is very different from brunfelsia lactea's.. To my nose it has a strong mango scent with a bit of lavender in it. :)
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- Posted by meyermike_1micha 5 (mikerno_1@yahoo.com) on Sun, Jul 31, 11 at 8:55
| Isn't that awesome Kemistry! Where did you get this plant!? Did I miss it? That is one lovely plant. I just love how it seems to have more flower than leaves! Have a great day Mike |
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| Hi Mike! :) Got this plant from Logee. The scent of this b. jamaicensis is amazing!!! Cannot wait for my other 'ladies' to flower. I love them! :o) |
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