Just wanted to poke my head in here for a moment. I haven't been in here in a while as the chat room is always empty when I come in. I am very buisy with a field of my Brugmansia hybrids going into bloom for the first time. I sincerely hope that I get some descent hybrids out of that field, but even if I only get one descent hybrid I will be happy beyond belief. As many of you know I selected my hybrids from over 10,000 seedlings that I grew and I only grew 600 or so to flowering size from last falls crop. I honestly hope that I get at least one good one from the batch, but you never know as I select for fast growers first and I only keep the 600 or so fastest growers out of the 10,000 I start. I also select for leaf and stem characteristics at the start of things as well. Well, thanks for the interest in Brugmansia as I have wanted to see more interest in Brugmansia myself and I love to share information with those who have a similar love of these beauties. So far, I have my eyes on about 4 of the 600 or so as being a good one without seeing the flower, but as you know after the plant flowers I may or may not continue to like those plants. Basicly, I have 4 that have exceptional growth and good leaf and stem characteristics from last years plants. How many seeds does does it take to get an exceptional hybrid? Answer, just one seed is all it takes, one lucky seed. Hope I get lucky.
Hope everyone enjoys their Brugmansia as much as I do,
Brugmansia
Brugmansia hybrids
you must be in heaven with that many brugs in bloom...
Oh my gosh! Just imagine the intoxicating fragrance of all those Brugs in bloom....not to mention the beauty!!! Wow!
Jean
Brugmansia, i have to ask... do you sell your rejects?? to people like me????
thanks
Removed by member request
Arlene,
I don't sell Brugmansia, I do occassionally trade hybrids or seeds. Most often I just trade seeds though unless its an aurea hybrid or wild aurea seed crossed to another aurea. Most often, I just spray my rejects with roundup. I can't wait to have these bloom. I am most likely going to be crossing these hybrids to jamaican yellow, pink candida rapture, pink aurea butterfly, pink aurea roseabelle, and Double orange. I think I might cross a few of these hybrids to each other as well. So far, only one is showing a versicolor type calyx out of the bunch, makes me think that somehow the Ecuador pink I had beside the Dr.Sues somehow had something to do with it, but with only 1 seedling showing that characteristic so far its not to likely. Ahh, rambling thoughts. Hoping for some dark pinks with a hint of yellow running through them for the most part and a few light pinks with soft yellow. Or in other words, various shades of peach for the most part are what I was hoping for from last years hybrids. First 2 to open this year from my new hybrids are Frosty pink hybrids and were selected for fast growth only. Have to wait another 24-48 hours before I can tell if it was worth the wait with those 2.
Mz,yes I have recieved many new plants. So far, I have recieved a Jutner orange, Jutner orange x peaches and creme, and a few others I can't mention as they have not been released yet. I don't trade others hybrids until they have been officially released for a few months. I do trade with other hybridizers from time to time. Of course, some hybridizers trade plants that are good for hybridizing purposes, but not the best themselves. Examples of this would be a white aurea crossed to a yellow aurea or any white crossed to something with color. I tend to steer clear of pure whites myself unless it was something crossed to a wild white aurea. My thanks to all of you who have sent me Brugmansia this year.
Quick notes on hybridizing for those interested:
Brugmansia can be easy to hard to set seed on. What makes it easy or hard is generally related somehow to plant size. Some Brugmansia hybrids will set seed almost as if by magic at a very small size and with only one flower blooming. Others tend to need to be a bit bigger before they will set a seed pod and then one finds that one has crossed 30 flowers just to get 3 or four seed pods. Brugmansia as a general rule are not self fertile. We all know how there is an exception to every rule. Brugmansia will develop a ripe seed pod in 4-7 months generally. It is best to pick the seed pod when it the seeds inside can be gently moved around from the outside by genly pinching on the outside. Waiting until the seed pod is fully ripened and cracked can lead to insect infestation and worthless seeds. Brugmansia pollen is generally good for 6 days. The stigma can actually utilize this pollen before it has fully developed so one can open the flower just before it starts to immerge from the calyx and pollinate it for faster seed setting. Best time of day to pollinate seems to be before the sun comes up or after the sun goes down. I pollinate my flowers 2 times just to be on the safe side. Make the slit on the bottom side so rain does not wash the pollen off of the stigma. Crossing different species together tends to give longer tendril lenght with aurea crosses tending to give the longest tendril with just one cross. B. aurea can be crossed to suaveolens, versicolor or any hybrids there of like candida, insignis, etc.
Hope this helps,
Brugmansia
Ps, the fresher the seed the faster the seed germinate and the higher the germination rate is. Older seed tends to germinate sporadically in a time frame of 2 weeks-2 yrs. Fresh seed germinates at 2-4 weeks and is not sporadic at all for the most part.
Hi Brugs,
Your experience and knowledge of these plants is truly amazing. I was very interested in them back in the late 70's-early 80's when no one here in California paid them much attention. The only one we would see in gardens was the old double creamy white, which was invariably planted in an old garden by a victorian house.
In 1980 a friend and I went down to Southern California to get sub-tropical plants that we could grow up here in the Bay Area. At the Huntington, the curator/ botanist gave us cuttings of all of their brugs, which numbered at the most about a dozen--all species. There were no hybrids in those days--as far as we knew.
My friend, who had a commercial greenhouse made a few crosses. He used a peach pink brugs which didn't have a name. It wasn't Frosty Pink. Its flower faced out at an angle rather than straight down, with a fairly short corolla and flared open very nicely. I still have a plant, though I kept it in a pot for years and am only now growing it in the ground to see it bloom again. Do you have any idea what it could be? Anyway, he crossed this pink with a yellow which was collected by a grower in the S. California area--either Jean Pasko or Betty Marshall, I forget which (I think it was the J. Pasko). He selected one which he named for this wonderfully eccentric plant collecting friend of ours, Charles Grimaldi.
I'm amazed how that plant has gotten around. Do you grow it? How does it compare to the more recent hybrids?
I'd love to see new hybrids with deeper colors in red and pink, and other rich colors. It would also be nice to see some dwarfer types, if that is possible.
Jon Dixon
Woodside, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula.
Hi Brugmansia,
What a delight to see you here, as I'm sure have a great deal of knowledge to help us brug beginners. If and when you are ready and willing to let some seeds go for SASE or perhaps cuttings please, please let me know. I'm just an email away
Sandy
JohnD,
I do know the Charles Grimaldi is still being used by some hybridizers. I think every hybridizer has one or 2 plants they prefer to use to cross everything to and this does change from year to year with some hybrids. The Charles Grimaldi, Dr.Sues, and Solid Gold are favorites of many hybridizers to use for breeding purposes. I asked an old hybridizer once how many crosses one had to make before you had gotten everything out of a hybrid, the answer was a cool 500 crosses. I don't think that number has been reached with Charles Grimaldi, Dr.Sues, or the Solid Gold. 185 seeds x 500 or there abouts would give the number per cross that would have to be made to make those plants completly obsolete as hybridizing plants if one was to believe in such things. I personally will always love the Dr.Sues and the Jamaican hybrids.
Hybridizing for dwarf varieties is very simple with Brugmansia. Most of my hybrids bloom at under 5 ft with only a few growing past that to 10 or so feet before blooming. I do think that some of the German hybrids are years past the point of such old hybrids as the Charles Grimaldi, but that does not mean that many hybridizers will not continue to use this old favorite to hybridize with. Each hybridizer has their favorites and the characteristics they want to select for. I personally like the aurea hybrids and anything with at least 1/3 aurea -nearly full aurea the best. I also like the flaring characteristics of a lot of suaveolens type hybrids and the tubular shapes of the versicolor hybrids. They are indeed hard to pick from, but overall, I stick to the aurea hybrids the most and crosses with aurea in the parentage for my crosses. Right now, I have a few seedpods forming on a Jamaican, but I used pink candida pollen to form them. Candida hybrids are 1/2 aurea and 1/2 versicolor. I am just hoping I get something nice from the cross. I have a few newer German hybrids I intend to use this year as well, mostly pink aurea hybrids and a double orange. The double pink candida is another nice one I would not mind hybridizing with, but there is only so much that one can plant in a year. Of course, I would rather set seed with the pink candida double than the double orange if I had it as I like the aurea genes a bit more. As I said earlier, everyone has their favorites. I tend to like smaller more fragrant flowers with longer tendrils which is a hard thing to get with Brugmansia as too many times the flower just wants to come out as some huge white mass. Small, petite, highly fragrant, floriferous, more fragrant, cascading flowers in color with serrated velvety leaves.....You can keep the 12-24 inch flowers for the most part to yourself with the corollas that open so wide you can stick your head inside of them.
SANDY,
I did send out a very few hybrids to someone on our group. I did make sure that person had enough to share as most of the cuttings were numerous and most of the plants were 1-3 ft tall if I remember correctly and fully rooted in large pots. I would guess that they have 10-15 different Brugmansia of mine if memory serves me... Perhaps they would like to trade a few after they get some of the cuttings rooted with you. I don't really trade all that much, but I do trade for aurea type hybrids though on occassion. I would rather set a seed pod then get a new plant for the most part. Taking cuttings reduces the number of seedpods I can start. Each new seed pod is something new and exciting to wait for...each hybrid that is named is something nice and something wonderfull if one trully wants it, but its not as exciting as you already know what to expect. Unless of course it is going to be a hybridizing plant, then it has tons of potential...boy do I ramble...
sheesh...
New hybrids that are on the hot list to hybridize with are most of the German Brugmansia hybrids...the Double orange and Double pink candida...those are the most sought after by a few hybridizers...That and the flava and arborea hybrides. I have a nice pure red vulcanicola hybrid...don't hybridize with it of course though. Perhaps someday I will get interested in the reds, but the reds don't have enough fragrance to warrant my attention. I like hybrids that scent the entire house or yard with one or two blooms. A thousand blooms on one of those is overwhelming.
Garden in Peace,
Brugmansia
This message was edited Monday, Jun 18th 3:58 PM
Brugmansia,
A thousand blooms..I would be awe strucken. Since I read that i just sit here trying to imagine the beauty of seeing and smelling and taking it all in.
I will check out the companies that you mentioned in another thread.
Thanks
Sandy
Hey...those companies both ahve nice offerings. My order is in. Thank you Brugmansia
Sandy
This message was edited Tuesday, Jun 19th 7:18 PM
bumping, i still remember being in awe when reading this.... Best to you and your family, Brugman.
gonna miss the rambling for a while. come back soon brugman.
We'll be here waiting for your return.
Eric, you will be missed a bunch.
Take good care of yourself. Hope to hear from you when you get a chance.
Bye for now Brugman!!
Stay safe Eric and we will all be praying for you and your family.We will all miss you!(And check out those European brugs)