Hello All -
Last year, I had some small success with a 'Suaveolens' purchased at about 16" tall from an eBay seller. The plant was grown on a deck in a mostly wooded area in the Poconos. I was thrilled with the blooms! I took a cutting, potted it and, to date, it is holding its own on a table near a window. This coming summer, I'd love to provide it with some company in the form of a pink, yellow, and/or orange. Do any of you expert Brug growers have some suggestions for some truly non-finicky colored varieties? I tend to like the single ones, although that double pink posted by Chrissy100 is beautiful!
Thanks!
Foolproof Pink, Yellow, Orange Brugs
Sounds like you've been bitten by the Brug addiction! My candidate for a yellow gold is Dr. Seuss. It's easy to grow, vigorous, and a producer of great flushes of fragrant blooms. This is what I think of when I think of Dr. Seuss. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/10574/
Other great yellows, oranges and golds are:
Charles Grimaldi, a yellow offspring of Dr. Seuss and Frosty Pink http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/6201/
Autumn Treasure, a newish orange not yet in PlantFiles, and mine is too small and hasn't bloomed yet.
Inca Sun, gold Brug Blooms when small and is more compact (relative). Is becoming easier to find. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/175065/
Wild & Crazy, an orange. I have a 2' older cutting/plant that has been producing flowers instead of branches since September. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/76846/
There are so many pinks, but among my favorites are:
Rubirosa, a dark pink that blooms and blooms and blooms. She is a parent of many newer named cultivars. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53838/
Mountain Magic, also a dark pink and one of my favorites. I had a tough time getting cuttings to root, but once rooted, she is great. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/29409/
Miss Emily MacKenzie, beautifully large pink blooms http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/105095/
Kelly Ann, another great dark pink, great flushes and produces seedpods easily.
Ecuador Pink, a pink single http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/22309/
There are so many more, but these would be a great start.
Wahoo! Thanks so much, BettyDee! That's a great number to choose from. I've heard of Dr. Seuss, generally with raves, and some of the other names are familiar as well.
Again, thanks for the suggestions!
Maybe Paul will chime in here.He is also in PA.In the meantime,Bettydees list would be hard to improve on.I would be careful with Charles Grimaldi as it has some reputation for fungus attacks.I would add Painted Lady and Dorthea to the list of excellent and tough single pinks.
When I was working on the yellow/orange list, I had her in mind for the pink list. Then I forgot to include her. Dorthea has such beautifully long tendrils and can get very dark pink. This is a photo of her on 9/29/09
Thanks for the additions, gone2seed! In my limited research, it seems Dr. Seuss has similar coloring to Charles Grimaldi with less of a chance for problems, so I will probably go with Dr. Seuss, . . . amongst others! BettyDee, that is such a deep pink on Dorthea!
This is my Autum treasure from last summer, it was more yellow than orange.
Doris
Which are the most winter hardy? I have one that I bought last fall and have been bringing it in and out as the weather dictates. Next spring I want to plant one outside and see how it does here over the winter.
C
In my area I have not found any that are winter hardy, I planted four in the ground one year then took cuttings leaving the root in ground with about three inches of stem, they all died so I won't try it again, just put them in pots and put them in the basement for the winter where it stays in the low 60's, I water once a month and the leaves stay green. I bring them up to my plant room the end of Feb. and start giving MG this seems to be the best for me.
Doris
newtonsthirdlaw,
All Brugs will suffer some frost damage if the temperature dips below 32ºF. Mine experienced that this winter when I didn't get to my greenhouse to switch tanks. The longer the temperature stay below 32º or the harder the freeze, the more damage. If the ground freezes or the soil temperature reaches 32ºF, the Brugs will die completely.
In most of Texas, Brugs freeze down to the ground. Even if heavily mulched, some Brugs will not return the following year. There are so many factors involved, including plant size, species type or cultivar, how cold it get and for how long, etc that a Brug may survive one year only to die and not return the following. You will have to experiment with your Brugs. Just be sure to take cuttings of them, root and overwinter them inside just in case they don't make it.
I had 3 Brugs in the ground last year. Only the Audrey Hepburn came back. Then it took until late August to get blooms from her since she had to go through the vegetative growth cycle before producing a "Y" and blooming. I lost my two Jamie Brugs. The need to see Brugs blooming earlier, makes some of us crazy enough to try bubble wrapping, use pipe insulation, wrap Christmas lights on them, erect mini-greenhouses around them ...
Another approach is to take large cuttings that include "Y"s and let them root over the winter. Because the rooted cuttings already have a "Y", they should bloom earlier and you don't heavy pots to move in and out.
I kept mine in a pot and moved it into and out of the house as needed. Perhaps I won't try some in the ground. Maybe its better to plant in the ground and pot up for winter? I am new to growing these but loved the flowers and the smell last fall so will try at least one more this season.
Cheryl
Okay, so I just ordered an 'Inca Sun' plant from Select Seeds! My suaveolens from last year is soldiering on at home. I did have to wash off a bunch of spider mites and webs (unfortunately a bunch of leaves "washed off" as well), but the plant looks healthy. I may try to located one of the more exotic pinks before the summer arrives.
Is it true that different varieties have different propensities for rooting? I was thrilled at how easy the suaveloens cutting rooted.
Going by my experience, I've found that to be true. Rothkirch is infamous for its difficulty in rooting. On the other hand, I was given several cuttings of Texas Pink along with cuttings of several other Brugs late last spring. All my Texas Pink had developed a fairly large root system by the time I started to pot-up my cuttings, while most had a small root system or only a few root strands. I was able to observe this because I root in water. Unfortunately, I have never seen any kind of list on rooting ability.
Thanks, BettyDee, one again, for the comments! I have seen certain cultivars, at least on eBay, go for a lot more $$ than others, and I wondered if they were costly because they are difficult to root, or because they are relatively new hybrids. A triple orange in particular, the name of which escapes me, seems to go very high. At any rate, I'm happy to have mine, and again, grateful for the list you provided in this thread. Thanks!