..... and now you see the Brugmansias

View of the main alley

Monika - that is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. How old are those beautiful trees?

Monika,

What a site. Very pretty.

I just came to this post after seeing the first one and my mouth is just hanging open. Such gorgeous pictures. I'd give my eye teeth to live in a setting like yours. Just beautiful Monika and just think, it won't be long until it is looking like this again. Thanks so much for posting the pictures. It certainly is a great boost for those of living with snow right now and I'm sure for everyone else as well.

Shirley

Monika, What a beautiful picture. The beauty must take your breath away every time you step out your door. What is the lowest temperature that you get in the winter?

The scent must travel all the way out to the road ~ I can almost smell them from here. Outstanding!

Okay, we can't take much more of this Monika. I especially like the way you have the flowers bordering them..gives a ncie added touch.

Monika,
This is what I call PARADISE!! I'm going to get busy and work out a landscape design for a potted brug terrace garden since I will have limited space. I'll be estatic if I even get one bloom by the end of the summer. These pictures are more than I can stand and we have months before we can set anything outside (May 24th weekend here is the safe planting date)

Joydie

Just beautiful!!!!!

Some of these trees are ten years old. I replace them, when they get to heavy and my back begins to protest. The fragrance is carried far out, depending from which side the breeze is coming.

Lowest temperature in the winter can be -20°C and more. I start digging them out middle to end of September, as the first snow and frost often comes in the first decade of October. The bordering flowers are spireas, busy lizzies, tagetes and Ageratum. For many other annual sommer flowers its to cold up here.

Monika, you are surely the envy of everyone here, certainly I am envying your gardens. I will try very hard this year to make something similiar of my gardens.

Í just went down to my garden - now I want to remove everything. Monika, do you have staff? Surely you can't do all this yourself?

Oh My, I think I need a "brug alley" this year. Monika, that is gorgeous.

how big are these trees? I know we're hounding you with questions, but you should have expected it with pictures like these:)

if you can do it like that in Germany,then there is still hope I can get a true brug tree this summer by dropping those puppies in the ground.....Monika ,you are amazing...

I'm with you CC, I think I will line my driveway with brugs. the question I have is, can I put osmocote in the hole as well as fertilize with miracle gro? or would that be just a bit much? Keep in mind our constant rain that washes everything away.....

No staff! I do this all myself. DH is helping me watering, but I rather do this myself. He drowns them. He doesnt fill the cold water in the buckets to let it warm up in the sun.

I am working in the garden all day. DH and I do the housework together. Sometimes he is cooking and washing the dishes.

The trees differ in height. The stems are about 1.20m without pot, the generative zone about 1m. When they are cut back, they have a height of about 2.30 -2.50m.

You should try to raise trees. I think that the flowers are more spectacular on a tree. You stand underneath and see them all when looking up. On a bush, you have to walk around.

What kind of soil do you have in the garden,mine is grey clay along the drivway,will they grow in that?I have horse manure to add to it.......

We have dark volcanic soil with clay. Mme Blin has a heavy clay soil and her Brugmansias grow like wild. They like a rich clay soil.

Well, my soil is clay....they should do well here.
I can't wait to plant some. they will no doubt be spectacular (well - I do have my doubts, but I can always hope)

You must be on a ladder all the time. They look impeccably neat.
If you dig these up yourself how much of a root ball do you keep? I am definitely trying this this year.
Are these the ones that you use for hybridizing or are they elsewhere?
I have SOOO many questions ~~ Sorry

I use them for hybridizing. I pollinate flowers on lower branches. They have a permanent Root ball. The Trees are potted in 20l buckets with two rows of larger holes on the sides and about 8 smaller ones on the bottom. I dig them out with these buckets, cut all roots, that ran out during the summer and put the bucket in a plastic bag to avoid, that too much air will affect the roots. In Spring, the buckets are withdrawm to check the root system. I remove all dead roots, put the tree back into his bucket and add fresh soil to close holes in the root ball.

What a process, but definately well worth it judging from the photos.

Am I getting this right - the buckets are planted too? The roots grow out the side holes?

sure is wonderful working on getting my back yard looking like this. thank God that I can keep mine in the ground all year what type of bouder plants do you have with them??? They seem to go so well together
Pete

They do look so beautiful Monika.
I will have my first Brugs seeds soon, a real nice DG's gardener is trading some of her seeds with me and I hope one day my tree will look 1/2 as nice as yours.
cristina

Hi Cristina,
Congrats with your first Brugmansia seeds :) I bet you can grow them very beautiful in zone 10 *lol* If you have frost free all year you can grow many of these to large trees and before we know, you will have an alley as beautiful as Monika`s :)

btw. Do you know Ursula Fischer from Santiago? In the spring 2001 she collected seeds of D. ferox in an yard of abandoned house in the valley of Mallarauco. I discharded the envelope and shortly afterwards my harddisk broke down permanently and I lost her e-mail address. It will be nice to mail to her again to thank her :)

Is it possible for you to receive Brugmansia seeds from Denmark without too much paperwork? If so, I like to mail you some too :)

Monika, Just beautiful. Roz

Tonny, I may still have her email addy or regular address. I will check.
I'm like the others, I am planning where to plant all those brugs, and Dh is saying "oh, my poor aching back for carrying these back home."

**lol* with you Cala :) I wish you an entire Brug Jungle and wish your DH a good strong back, because he sure will be needing it *lol* I plan to but a two-wheeled lift for mine ... seeing how beautiful Monikas alley is it is an inspiration for all of us :) Thanks, Monika. Its unique.

Glad you have her address :D I will love to have it :) Long since I last mailed with her :)

**lol* with you Cala :) I wish you an entire Brug Jungle and wish your DH a good strong back, because he sure will be needing it *lol* I plan to but a two-wheeled lift for mine ... seeing how beautiful Monikas alley is it is an inspiration for all of us :) Thanks, Monika. Its unique.

Glad you have her address :D I will love to have it :) Long since I last mailed with her :) (ha, ha, small world :D)

Monika,
I love the idea of the buckets now that is my idea of making easy work. One only has to dig the hole for the bucket once and then just drop the plant back in again the following spring.

Here in Canada we have a coffe shop chain called Tim Hortons (named after a Canadian hockey player). I go every once in awhile and get the big 15 gallon buckets from them. The buckets contained dry materials they use for making the donuts so they are easy to wash and desinfect. Plus they have handles which make them easy to move about the garden. I use the drill attachments to make the holes.
The coffee shops are more than happy to give them away.

I also love anything that can be grown as a Standard. I keep all of my Rose of Sharon etc. well pruned into Standards. I find the energy goes into producing more blooms than in a bush-form. Also with plants trained as a standard it allows you to plant underneath them and create a little micro-climate.

I've already started playing around with my landscaping software to come up with some different designs. Oh I am even more anxious now for Spring to come around. I may have to get someone to dig the holes for me though as my knees are still really bad.

Monika your pictures are so beautiful that they would make wonderful covers for greeting cards. You are not only a genius at hybridizing plants, but also a fantastic photographer.

Joydie

Thank you Joydie. If you wish I could load up a picture showing the holes on the side, after being digged out.

please ma'am, would you? you can't really imagine what you've done for all of us. If I could get half this effect, I would be so pleased.

Monika, Your gardens and brugs are the nicest I've ever seen. Such an inspiration to all of us. You must work very very hard. Thanks for sharing all of your photos with us.

Monika,
Since they are now in your greenhouse can you take a picture so we get an idea of the size of the brugs in pots? Do you also put stones in the bottom of the pot for drainage?
Joydie

WOW! I am sitting here almost drooling over the look of that tree. Sitting here before all proud of myself thinking that my first brugs are now 1ft tall and doing well. I had hoped for blooms this summer but now I have my sites set on the future far beyond just a few blooms.

I see trees in my future.
Thanks for the inspiration!!!!
Crystal

Mine started from cuttings, but seeds are now on there way to try for the first time from a couple garden friends so now my heart is racing!

No I dont need drainage as the garden soil passes water very quick. We have volcanic soil with clay and from tiny
to large stones.
I will place a picture of my winterquarters.

I haven't had much computer time lately, so what time I have had I've spent lurking quitely, but I just HAD to tell you that this is GORGEOUS, Monika! One can dream...

This picture could have been taken in my yard! I can't believe how similar they are.