Thanks for the info peg.
Jen, you are spoiling me. I'm gonna think if something nice to return the favors.

Come one K join the crazy people and grow everything, LoL.

Mike

I thought I had joined the crazy people.

I think the Brugs are delightful, however I have never grown them before -Jen was kind enough to gift me one which I am thrilled about, but have no idea what I'm doing. She told me I could do it and so I have faith I can do it! - kind of...LOL.
She rooted it for me in water so I just potted it up & have it in my kitchen window and it seems to be doing just fine, possibly a couple of tiny leaves starting?!

For the more experienced, what do you make of Peg's situation? I am curious over the long term how to keep these alive.

Good point K. LoL.

Mike

Hi MIke!!

I have grown them as well, but i found them really easy to grow and then i had so many cuttings from mine. Honestly, i lost interest because they didnt have a fragrance and they just seemed to need water all of the time here. They would wilt every day if i didnt water them in the summer. During the winter, i would cut them back and they would do alright in my greatroom. I don't have any now.. but if i found some that had a fragrance.. I might try them again.

Good luck!!

Laura

K. We are the crazy ones here.. Just ask anyone!!! :-)

here is a pic of the tree from last summer.

Have a good night!!

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Hi Mike!

I have 3. Charles Grimaldi (yellow orange), Betty Marshall (white) and if it makes it New Orleans Lady (a double peach that was exposed to the cold for a bit too long but is coming back towards the base).
Anyway Charles Grimaldi is our fav (we call him Chuck).
I've got some baby plants that actually sprouted from roots that I had pruned last year and shoved in a pot if you'd like to try Chuck. :)
He smells awesome at night IMO.

-Robert

Mike, happy to spoil you! I've heard lots of good things about Charles Grimaldi. I had a noid yellow for several years and it bloomed spring and fall, when the nights were cooler, and the fragrance at night was to die for! A friend said it smelled like a very expensive perfume.

The white I'm sending actually bloomed the first spring after rooting, the pink hasn't yet so I can't comment on its scent, but you can see for yourself if it'll work for you. Then when it's a six-foot-tall shrub you can spread the cuttings around, too!

I know there are people all over Texas who grow them in the ground in a fairly sheltered area and just cut them back in the winter before a bad freeze and mulch the rootball. It will come back from the ground in the spring as long as the ground itself doesn't freeze. Some Houston homes have huge ones in-ground that never die back.

Jen. That sounds fantastic!

Robert yours sounds like a great one. I may have to take you up on that.

Laura. That flower is amazing!

I knew you all would have great ideas.

Thanks.
Mike

This post was edited by mksmth on Sat, Mar 9, 13 at 16:27

they only smell at night, pollinated by moths. Native to Peru, the red ones do not like heat or humidity.

White, pink and yellow are the only colors beside the one red. If it is purple it is a datura. If you breed the purple brug you will have fame and fortune!

Datura are an annual, here they will live 1-2 years if it doesn't freeze, just start them from seeds every year, they grow fast, up to 6' in a month. Don't try and overwinter them it's not worth it.

Mine average 10' but some are much taller, I dug out over 80 that died in Hurricane Ike.

They do not go dormant in winter so do not let them dry out, keep them in as much light as possible, or just put cuttings in a bucket of water over winter.

They are poisonous and used by Shamans in religous ceremonies, hallucinogenic properties.

How many cuttings do you want? I lost the names years ago but they are everywhere in my yard and blooming like crazy right now.
Tally HO!

I have grown lots of brugs for many years and have many of my own hybrids too now. We also had them in our yard in Calif when I was a kid.
They take way more water and fertilizer than plumeria. Many also like a little afternoon shade as well just depending on the variety. You will have to fertilize the brugs many times over the growing season if you really want large flushes of flowers as well as using some slow release. Brugs grow on natural refuse piles in their native environment so always have access to plenty of nutrients. Brugmansia are also susceptible to nematodes if they are present in the soil so keeping lots of organic matter in the soil or growing them in pots may help.
Brugs also seem to attract many different kinds of pests so they can be a little high maintenance depending on where you live. They are a mecca for spider mites, aphids, caterpillars etc.
On the good side they are gorgeous in full flush and smell great in your moon garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some of my brugmansia and also some named varieties...

This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 12:41

those of us that grow them are more likely to call them BUGmansia lol! Everything eats them.
They all droop every afternoon in summer begging for water, I ignore them and they perk up when the sun starts to set. I'm dreadful at feeding things and they don't seem bothered blooming heavily after every rain.
They are very addictive!
Tally HO!

Wow I cant believe how much of a water hog they are. Sounds like Oklahoma is a great spot for them. Hot dry summers and every bug known to man. LOL.

I guess when I get started with some Ill fashion an IV drip of water and ferts and hire someone to spray for bugs every half hour, Hahahaha.

thanks everyone.

Mike

I gave up on growing brugmansia at the coast. After Alberts passing his wife insisted that I plant some of his NOID brugmansia and his favorite tropicals in my yard, since he loved it so much there. She is moving back to Belton. I planted them using 1/4 turface and 3/4 miracle grow. They are doing GREAT! I can't believe the diffrance I also planted a couple of my named varities with the turface, and they are also doing GREAT. I would recommend that you get New Orleans Lady and Xena to start with. They seem to be the best bloomers in our heat.. Also do not plant in full sun, they llke afternoon shade. Babra

Peg if you want datura seeds, just send me a stamped envelope, if you can pick them up, I can get plants for you. I have the double purple and white, double yellow and double white datura. The double white is the hardest to come by. I am always giving these plants to people who come to my place, they are so beautiful. If anyone else wants seeds or plants just let me know. I will not mail out plants, but do not have a problem with mailing out seeds. They grow in full sun, or shade. I usually pull out the older plants and just let the new plants grow.. They grow up everywhere in my yard, sun or shade. Barbra

That is so sweet Barbra. I would love some seeds. Wish I was close enough to get plants. The one I had was a double purple and white. I'll send you an email. I think I found what may have done mine in - the pot smells like the cat used it for a litter box. I have mats over some of the bigger pots to keep them out but I didn't put one on that one. I've gone out and got more mats as I'd have to find a new home for them if they did that in the bigger plumeria pots. Anyone want a cat?

I like to put milorganite in the ground with mine when I plant them. They get so green and have huge flushes.

Barb, they are really just big weeds for me! There is one down the street that is in full sun and over 15` tall and looks like a forest it`s so wide. They have a drip irrigation system with a fertilizer system built in. Mine are not that lucky. I refuse to water them every time they wilt and we know I`m not all that good at fertilizaton. Used to put ammonia on them but then went all organic so they get fish emulsion, chicken poop and rabbit poop.
Tally HO!

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sultry_jasmine_night , they're beautiful! Love the variegated plant. Peg

Wow those are some great plants. Thanks for sharing that.

Mike

Thanks for posting. @Sultry-jasmine_night, you have a very nice collection. Where did you buy your Brugs?

Hi thank you. These are just a few shots from a couple corners of my old yard. We moved to 4 acres now so everything is more spread out. I actually think I liked the lushness of a smaller property better than a larger one lol. It takes so much more work and time now.

I have had brugs for many years so have bought them at all kinds of places lol. Some of the nurseries aren't even open any longer. Mostly, I have either bought them online or traded. Many are even from my own seed crosses now.
I have done away with a lot of them that were picky, disease or bug prone, or just not good bloomers to make room for other kinds of flowering plants, fruit, or things to grow for our chickens etc.
So I have way less brugs than I used to but still enough to make my back hurt getting the ones out of the gh every winter that I let seedpods set onto. I am in a 9a so mostly they can stay out in the winter unless they have seeds or I don't want to lose the form of the tree by it freezing back.
My biggest problem here is actually nematodes.
~SJN

the variegated just does not do well for us here, it doesn`t seem to like humidity all that much. I finally gave up on it.
Tally HO!

There are several different variegated brugmansia on the market now. The variegated one in the pic does okay. I have another green on green variegate called Freckles by Fred Sommers here in FL that does very well. Someone gave me another variegate, Katrine Bonte, last year that so far is doing very well.
There are other variegates that other people grow that do well in Fl but I haven't personally tried them all. I don't actively tried to get variegate brugs because they aren't really my favorite.

I had Miner's Claim and Snowbank and they both hated it here and died promptly lol. I know some people in FL who can grow those two but they must of hated my yard :P

In general, I'd say the variegates like to be on the drier side than the non- variegates. They also dislike to have their foliage and stems wet either and succumb to rot easier. Most of the ones I've tried seem to appreciate a little afternoon shade.
~SJN

I've attempted several varieties over the years, in pots, in the ground, in shade, none have done well. Our humidity is rarely below 80% and salt spray, shallow water table and constant heat does in brugs that do well in Houston. Then add monsoon conditions and it is fatal for so many plants. I finally moved most of the cactus to the porch roof to decrease losses.
Tally HO!

Peg, just email your mailing address to K, I will call him to get it, I will mail the seeds to you. I somehow deleted aol on my computer. I will have to call and see how I can add it back. I still don't know how I did it. We got home today, I brought all the seeds home with me. K, I also have your datura plants. Barbra

Thanks Barbra, I was thinking it's a GW mail problem as mail has gotten lost before from them. Thanks again. Peg

Peg, our computer was hacked, we just got it fixed,they just refiled all our applications, even mcaffee was not working. I have the seeds, I just need your mailing address. I wish I could send you plants. I have so many I had to destroy this weekend. They grow like weeds just like Tally said. I love when someone comes to the place, so I can give them plants. Barbra

Hey Mike, when you responded to one of my old topics on the brugmansia forum, i was confused. I was racking my brain trying to figure out why you were wanting suggestions, because I was quite certain that someone from Oklahoma with your exact user name had given me advice before. Then it hit me that you had given me advice on plumeria, not brugmansia. Anyways, if you decide to join the club, welcome. I have four and i'm already trying to pick out number five.

I actually didn't let my young plumeria go dormant this winter and it seemed that every time that I would give it the tiniest drop of water, a leaf would turn yellow and fall off. So far, for me, brugmansia have been much easier to overwinter. However, they certainly can't take the Oklahoma sun as well as plumeria can. They are worth it, though.

No problem Allan

I hope whatever advice I gave you was good, LOL

I figured from what I read lately that Brugs would have a tough time here in full sun. Especially in August.

I didnt force my plumeria to go dormant either but I didnt try to keep them going also. I just cut all but 1 leaf off and piled them up in the greenhouse. They are all starting to wake up and I even have few pushing inflo's

Mike

Well Mike, I don't remember specifics, but the plumeria is still alive. Your advice couldn't have been too bad, lol.

How long after you start seeing them wake up do you wait to start fertilizing them? Mine kept two leaves and is starting to put out some new growth at the top. I've been sitting it outside on the warm days.

I was also wondering if anyone had tried using foliage pro on brugmansia. I bought some for my plumeria, after all the recommendations from the wonderful people of this forum. I was curious if anyone knew how it does for brugmansia.

Allan

Well thats good. Im glad I didnt contribute to the death of your plant. LOL

I have already given mine a normal dose of FP a couple weeks ago when I noticed the claws getting sticky. Mine are in the greenhouse getting full sun and the temps are usually 80+ on a sunny day. I probably will do it again once a month until summer. Honestly I never stick to a schedule. I have bananas, citrus, pineapples desert rose and if the water can still has water and ferts in it I just give it whatever is close by.

Im not the best for fert advice.

SJN, what doubles do well for you? I want to replace my doubles this spring, they were victims of Ike. The double white did best for me but I notice you have a wonderful peach and a pink. Thanks in advance.

Allan, my brugs are all in the ground and as you can see by SJNs picks they are huge plants. I have never left one in a pot for any length of time.
Tally Ho!

Mike, looks like I'll just be sending you the pink--Strawberries-n-Creme according to Albert's tag--because the whites don't look so good. Only one is really rooted and it's too big to get in the box. But it'll be two S&Cs plus your Gladys O'Neal seedling, which is growing and looking good. Maybe after this cold front passes next week?

beachplant, I am in NE FL near the St. John's River and the the coast (zn 9a). We don't get salt spray here but still quite humid in the rainy season.
Lemon Meringue does really well. It is a white triple that starts out yellow and turns white so all the bottom layers look yellow while the top ones that opened up already are white.
Wretched Mess is a triple and sometimes quad that does well too. It is pure white.

New Orleans lady is my favorite orange double. It likes to grow big but is a good reliable bloomer. It will flush as well as put out blooms here and there between the flushes.
Naughty Nick will also bloom okay too but is a tall, lanky sprawler and really needs full sun to do well. It seems to bloom its very best in full sun with just a hint of afternoon shade. It needs a lot of sun to keep it from getting too lanky. It will have huge flushes but not so much in-between blooming. (NN is the orange double flushing in the photo above with the white moonflower)

For pinks: I love Sam and Daydreams. These are two very reliable pink doubles with Sam being the darker of the two. Adeline is great too.
Rosalla is another great flusher. Sometimes she is a single and sometimes (especially with the onset of cooler nights) she is a double.

*There are lots of other doubles that do well too in my experience but these reliable older varieties are easy to get a hold of and perform good here.

I usually start new cuttings every couple of years because of the nematodes here. I keep mine in the ground unless I am trying to keep the tree form or keeping seedpods on the plant. Then I have to move them into the gh to prevent them from freezing back. When I first moved to FL my yard did not have the nematode problem that I do on our new property and they are only 40 miles apart lol.

My favorite Singles that perform great for me are:
MEM, Mountain Magic, Ila Marie, Rubirosa, Painted Lady, and Isabella, (all pinks)
Super Nova (white)
Shooting Star (yellow).
~SJN

This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Sun, Mar 24, 13 at 13:27

Just to give you some ideas of how the some of the different double flower forms look:
Daydreams

sultry_jasmine_night, your plants look absolutely amazing. I have been looking at either a white, or a lemon yellow and it looks like you get both with Lemon Meringue. Would you mind telling me a bit more about it. What is the habit like and how is the fragrance? How does it take the heat? I would love for it to do from me here in Oklahoma, because it's beautiful.

Jen

No worries here. I'm so excited to give them a try.

We had snow flurries here this morning. Brrrr. Should be warming up toward the end of the week.

Thank you so much.

Mike

This post was edited by mksmth on Sun, Mar 24, 13 at 20:27

Thanks for the info SJN! I have New orleans lady, she is a small one still but is starting to take off this year. It seems like the soil is finally returning to normal, we had dead spots for quite awhile after Ike, all that salt and not enough rain.
I love lemon meringue! That is gorgeous. Now to hunt down a source for these. I am getting a cutting of the double white from a friend I mailed cuttings to years ago so excited about that.
We had a problem with nematodes here but the flood seems to have really cut back their numbers.
Tally HO!

AllanRandall, The Lemon Meringue (LM) is actually one that does seem to do well in the heat and humidity here. I kept one in a large pot for 3 years and it grew to be about 4 feet tall and made lots of Ys (brugs make Ys then flower, then grow, then more Ys then flower, etc) and branches and flowers a lot, both flushes and flowers between the flushes. So she has the potential to be able to stay smaller and in a pot. You would just have to take her out every year or so and root prune and amend the potting soil etc.

The LM bloom is thick and waxy. Sometimes they are a little deformed but not often. The fragrance is not as strong as some of the other brugs. My dh thinks that is a good thing since he thinks they all smell like lemon dish soap, lol but to each their own...It does not set seed pods easily but like I said, it does flower prolifically.

This year, I planted her out in the ground to see what she will do. I took some back-up cuttings just in case.
~SJN

Thanks for the info and the quick response, SJN. I like that is does in heat, but less fragrance is disappointing. I also agree that a lot of them have a lemony scent, but have you had your dh smell of Miss Emily Mackenzie? It doesn't have even a hint of lemon for me, more of a musky baby powder.

I have three named varieties and I picked them out based on look, size of blooms, and amount of blooms. I really wanted to go for a unique fragrance this time. I noticed that you have Adeline, what is its fragrance like.

I really want a Vermilion Sky, but have no idea where to get it.

Haha yes he says the same thing about all the brugs including MEM. Daydreams also has a nice softer fragrance than some.
Here is Miss Emily Mckenzie (MEM)
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Here Miss Emily is compared to Super Nova for size they are about the same length but MEM has longer tendrils. Super Nova is another really large/long flowered brug and it is a power bloomer with lots of scent. It is in one of the above photos, very first photo (with the single white flush of blooms). It attracts hawk moths in droves lol.
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Another one of SN
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This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Mon, Mar 25, 13 at 16:36

Tally, I just received an email from Mark, and he is still selling brugmansia plant1 gallon plants are $15 each, and the freight is $6.50 for the 1st plant, and $2 for each additional plant. If you are still interested in buying doubles to replace the ones you lost in Ike. He sent me his list he has Daydreams, Adeline, Sam, Lexi, New Orleands Lady, Double Peach, Miss B Havin, and American Pride. If you are interested, I can send you his email, he has great plants, I have bought many plants from Mark Bailey over the years. .Barbra

Barb, yes, send me his e-mail.

I have seen plenty of brugs in full sun here in Texas, so if they can handle it here they can handle it in OK. You just have to water them a LOT more in the sun. My mom has one planted in the front yard, full sun all day and the thing never quits blooming, I have the same one in morning sun, afternoon shade and mine doesn`t bloom nearly as much. She waters a lot more than I do.
When my brain starts working...the ones that hang straight down seem to tolerate the sun more than the ones whose flowers stick out at more of an angle, but I forget which is which.
Tally HO!

Barbra, Are you still having email problems? I've sent you a couple. Have you gotten them? Just checking. Peg

Jen, look at the Brug cutting you gave me!!! This is just from sitting in the kitchen window!

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Hey Jen.

I got your package today!!! Check em out. They are hanging out under the banana tree next to some canna tropicana and canna Australia.

Mike.

Awesome--thanks for the updates, guys! They'll be towering over you before you know it! I'm so happy to be spreading around our dear Albert's plants.

Mike, I hope that Gladys baby makes some gorgeous flowers for you soon; with your greenhouse you'll be giving her better winter light than I can!

I am looking for some brugmansia(Angel Trumpets)myself.My granny gave me 4 cuttings,after all 4 had roots,my mom took them and planted at her house while I was at work and my guava plant the grandma nextdoor gave me but her reason was I didn't have anywhere to plant them cause the apt I lived in was concrete all the way around and 2 inch wide of dirt.Now I move to the country I tried to get my angel trumpets back and guava plant but she locked the backyard gate and i could never get it back now I have to find somebody who will be kind enough to help me replace both with or without a trade.If she tries to come out here and steal them(If I can get another one)I will sick my husband on her.SO I am looking for some plumeria cuttings and angel trumpet cuttings.
The above picture is the canna lily I have in my front yard