Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Container Advice Wanted, 0 by GoldenDomer

GoldenDomer wrote:
I thought I’d make this Sunday PM post (with additional details) following my long and draining football weekend. The Notre Dame game Saturday was like you experienced Bruggers (which I am not) suddenly discovering a severe and widespread case of Stangelbrand. The Chicago Bear’s salvaged the weekend enough for me to make this post. I have the Indianapolis Colts game on DVR to watch later. Am I a football “nut” or what?

In order for Kell to better zero in on my situation I’m including a picture stack. The first of the three pics below is the reason I’m only 90% satisfied with my container brug. This was taken very early this morning. Tomorrow it will be pink (not orange which is being exaggerated by the dim morning light) but by now should have already more fully bloomed as is shown in my 2nd pic taken of my “showpiece” brug planted in the ground in my front yard. Both brugs gave me a bloom or two earlier (Aug 3 and Aug 31) and both previous times my container brug had difficulty giving birth.

The bottom pic is to show that I agree with Kell’s wisdom – if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. This is the view I have sitting in the kitchen for my early morning wake up coffee and again later for breakfast. One could say that I have this brug under scrutiny comparable to an intensive care unit.

Those of you in the know may have recognized these brugs as Day Dreams. What’s a part timer like me doing with a prize double pink like this which I frankly don’t deserve? The answer is that I am just one of the many anonymous folks who was the beneficiary of Brugie’s warm generosity. She sent me an emergency supply of cuttings in late ’04 after I systematically killed all the cuttings that Ronna had previously sent me To my surprise, Brugie’s 10 cutting package included one cutting of Day Dreams that she hacked off the mother plant that she certainly hadn’t planned to. Plus a cutting of Monika which I haven’t had much luck with. I rewarded Ronna with both double pink cuttings last September. Thanks Brugie, if you’re reading this. DD is the single brug that’s kept me brugging albeit on a small scale.

Also, to satisfy any curiosity about how such an obviously top heavy 11 inch pot keeps from falling over - the answer is I have it screwed to the deck. The corn cob in the background is a miscellaneous piece of my backyard wildlife habitat to which my brugs are a notable exception.

A belated question: Is proper daily watering when one later sees water coming out the drain holes? I’m used to watering only until my moisture meter is happy which works great on all my indoor potting. I may simply be under watering/feeding… (ugh, the life of a rookie !)

Kell, I thought this additional post might be of help and/or interest. Thanks, in advance, for any further advice.

Dave