I live on the south side of Lafayette, and here they're safely hardy tho' I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to put them in the ground until the weather is beginning to threaten to be spring. If they'd had time to establish in the fall they'd have been all right, tho' I must say that Christmas cold has mine looking pretty awful. They've been through a lot colder weather and come back nicely in the spring. A lot of plants will bloom sooner and more heavily in containers than in the ground because having their roots restrained keeps them from spending their strength growing so they bloom. They are heavy feeders and need a lot of water in our periodic dry spells to bloom well in the ground, but it's not really hard, and since you'll have a larger plant you should be able to get even more flowers. The last few years I have not taken very good care of mine and they have not bloomed as heavily as usual, but I have seen them in the ground with more than a hundred blossoms. As far as cuttings--they take pruning very well, and each time you cut you will probably get two branches which will lead to more blooms. I learned they were easy to grow from cuttings the year I thought they had frozen back and pruned them to the ground, and then laid the long prunings at the edges of a couple paths and at the back of the lot. Most of them grew. Since then I go to all the bother of getting a pot of good potting mix and stick the prunings in it. Don't think I've ever had one fail, tho' maybe if it didn't get watered. Enjoy!

My sister has one and she lives in Lafayette also. She planted it a couple summers ago and it sticks out over her courtyard fence now. That thing was covered in blooms this summer. In fact when we were over there at Christmas time, it still hadn't been killed back to the ground. I guess because it is in the corner of the courtyard and the fence protects it.

I live just south of Lafayette. Each year mine freeze to the ground and each spring they come back times 3 or 4. I now have 20 where I started from 4. They really need to be divided. In mild winters I imagine they would just get bigger.

I'm in Lake Charles. ditto Keith Thib. Mine took a few years to get going but they are now as tall as the eaves of the house and bloom continuously throuthout the summer. They do freeze but in the last couple of years, because of the size, I have not had to cut them to the ground; just to where the dead ends and the green starts.

Steve

I am way-way North of you and have tons of Brugs in my yard...no problem with them being hardy. They will probably kill back to the ground after a hard freeze but will pop right back in spring. I just cut them off after the freeze. In a way, I am kinda glad they fry..they get so big that I get sick of looking at them!

Tim

I might also add that while I simply stick cuttings in soil and they root with ease, especially during the warm summer monthes, you may also root cuttings in water equally as easy.
Blooms arise from the branches. No branches equals no flowers. I have had plants grow straight up to 8 feet without branching and I got zero flwoers from that plant. When it did start branching I statred getting flowers by the bushels full. By the way allowing for the plant to shoot a good tall truck before branching makes a much nicer tree form to me. If allowed to branch too low to the ground Brugs make more of a really wide bush than tree.
Also keep branching in mind when taking cuttings. If you start a branched cutting you will get flowers super fast. Infact I have had cuttings flowering where the flowers would be larger than the cuttings. Flowers tend to be about a foot long if you didn't know.
And yes my trees get hundreds of flowers on them when in full flush. They spot flower through the year with the best blooming for me being in the fall with the cooler weather.
Also Brugs will grow in shade but flowering is greatly reduced and the bushes become lankyer.
Go in the ground with your plants in good soil and abundent moisture and you will be most happy. Promise ;o)
Mike