Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Losing interest in brugmansia's or a bad season?, 0 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Hey all,

Thought I would chime in here....from hot and humid Baltimore....

This is only my second year of growing Brugs. Last year I had 2. My Dr. Seuss and my Rose Souvelons. My Rose S. did OK for a while, started blooming and then the mites hit! And hit.....and hit! They destroyed the whole plant!!! My Dr. Seuss, on the other side of the house, had NO bug problems. It didn't do much until late October, when it presented me with it's first full flush. GOD!!! It was great! You could smell the fragrance down the street!

I kept the original Dr. S. dormant in my basement over the winter. I was going to toss the Rose S., but decided to save the best stem on it and rooted it. It was also dormant in my basement.

WELL!!! This year, I have 6 Brugs (thanks to Shirley (Brugie)]. She sent me cuttings of "Rosemond" (2), "Species" (I am waiting to see what the blooms are like!) and her own "Forevermorr". I have NO idea what color the flowers will be! They are ALL growing like crazy--5'-7' tall. r. Seuss is over 8'! Heaven help me!!!!

All are healthy so far! Knock on wood---I have not had to spray any of them. I am almost afraid to say that--like--tomorrow I will go out and there will be a king-sized infestation on all of them.....

Here's the weird thing! The only one that has bloomed so far (3x) is the Rose Souvelons! She must be applogizing for last year! LOL!
The Rosemond has a bunch of buds on it soon to open. I have a "top" and a "bottom" of the Rosemond. Shirley couldn't get the whole thing in the box, so she cut it in half. The top is ahead of the bottom as far as buds are concerned. "Forevermorr" has just "Y"'ed and there are 2 buds. The Dr. Seuss also just has made some buds. I can't wait!

Anyway! The heat is horrible! I have to water every day--my whole garden. It takes me about an hour. I am just so grateful that none of my Brugs have had any bug problems so far. Maybe I should spray them anyway--sort of anticipating some? Maybe it helped that a while ago, I put Systemic Granules around each one. I had forgotten that......

Ther is NO WAY that I will be able to keep the Mama plants over the winter!!!! Maybe ONE? I will try to take cuttings and see if I can give away the 6-8 foot "trees" to someone with a garage or space to keep them. It will kill me--but I must do, what I must do!

I will post pictures when they bloom. So far, the only one I have is the Rose Souvelons. She was beautiful! Say "Hello"!