Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Blooms, almost November, or other garden pretties?, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
RRR-

As you may know--a Brug will not bloom until it has "Y'd".

That means--the stem, at some point, splits into a "Y" and just continues to
grow and "Y's" from that point on,a ll subsequent growth after the 1st "Y" will also "Y".

When taking cuttings, try to take them from ABOVE the first "Y" because these
cuttings will bloom sooner. Good practice--especially desired if you share cuttings.

You CAN root any piece of a woody stem from anywhere on the plant,
even the main trunk--if you wanted.
Except--now you will have to wait till the cutting grows tall enough to "Y".
Until it does that--you will not see any blooms.
SO--blooming it is a matter of time. Much later if your cutting you rooted is
taken below the FIRST "Y".

In older brugs--the 1st "Y" may be close to the base--kind of part of the main stems.
That is OK--it still counts as a "Y".

And--as I have said before--do not try to root the current year's green growth.
These are soft and I have not had much luck rooting them. The woody ones,
thin or fat--will always root better.
And--also--do not root the cuttings in water. It is much easier and cleaner to
do it right into a 5" -6" pot in fresh Pro Mix. I never had luck with water rooting...

Look at the picture--my poor, NOID, pink Brug. This summer--they had some
kind of leaf issues, and lost a lot of leaves.
However--you can easily see in this Brug the "Y"'s on the 2 stems on the right.
You can see the first "Y"--way down near the base and, higher up, the second
and third "Y's".
This is NOT my best brug. i will not keep this one for next year. It grows straight up.

Hope this helps you. Best! Gita