Multiple branched standard? Can you still call it a standard? I have a plant that I let form multiple stems. Stripped all the bottom leaves off. I think it will be pretty when it blooms.
I'm thinking I'll let more do this.
*ignore the mess all around the yard*
I have a couple like that Kristi,I would call it a standard.
What mess???
What mess??? PLEASE... Your too sweet Root ((hugs))!
I let mine grow however they way. Generally I will get enough standards from seedlings I hold over. Since I live in the country, nothing has to look just perfect anyway. Heck, if I lived in town, I wouldn't do it any different. Bet your brug will be a beauty.
No it won't be a beauty Shirley. LOL... It's a dud seedling. It was suppose to be composted in the fall. My husband brought it when I was out of town. I didn't have the heart to toss it this spring. SO out it goes.
My neighbors have perfect yards. Let me add that those are the ones that ripped up all my plants last fall. One of those neighbors picked up goose poop that was on his lawn. I kid you not. He didn't want anything to soil his green grass. He had a large bucket full of the stuff. I wonder how one picks up piles of goose poop? LOL
Very carefully!
All your brugs and mess??? look good to me.
Really like that Maya and the almost white sport.
With a Goose Poop Scoop....
I would be very happy with your Mess in my yard. If you want to see a mess .. it is my yard. Barn just got torn down, stuff from the barn out in the yard and gullies down my bank from all the heavy rain. I am really getting tired of all this construction. Only planting I can do is in pots!
I like full bush form best. I like all the folage. Then when they are not in bloom you have something to look at besides sticks.
Bet you have some great looking pots Deb. Your flowers were very pretty that were waiting to be planted in the ground.
Like you, Kristi, I'm really liking the tree form. Do you think I should cut more off this one?????
Here's another one. Should I cut it back more??? Also, where do you cut, in front, or behind the nodes???? The reason I didn't cut it back more is because there were so many Ys, I was attempting to preserve as many Ys as I could. Or, is preserving the Ys a good idea???
This is my final photo. This brug was thrown away by my nursery guy, he said it was too much trouble, and would not bloom. So, I took it home and within a little over a week, it was blooming like a champ. Wilt and bloom, wilt and bloom is its game. Is there anything I can do to keep this one from being a bush?? If not, I have plenty of room and can find room for this little brug...it does wilt like you've never seen, the leaves look totally dead, then bounce back - you think it's outgrown it's pot?????
Ooooops I didn't send the photo, so here is the post again, plus the photo, sorry - Here's another one. Should I cut it back more??? Also, where do you cut, in front, or behind the nodes???? The reason I didn't cut it back more is because there were so many Ys, I was attempting to preserve as many Ys as I could. Or, is preserving the Ys a good idea???
Gosh Kristi! I also do NOT think your yard is a mess. Looks like yall enjoy a nice time outside.
And as far as brug growing, as long as they are its all good! :o)
Sherry, you will loose bloom if you cut it back now, but this fall before you bring it in for the winter, I would cut all the branches in the flowering region back, leaving six nodes. It will be bushier next year, but it isn't going to get taller, just bushy on the top. Looks like doing that would make it a great patio specimen.
datdog, I like your "multiple branched standard", a good name for it. More attractive, I think, and removal of the lower leaves allows for underplanting if desired. A pair of standard on the patio flanking a doorway would also be decorative, but the branched form appeals to me.
My favorite is a tall single trunk alley tree. I can fit all sorts of color beneath them. My yard is too small for big bushes and here they grow too huge. To my eye they are messy looking also and leave such a mess. A standard I can keep groomed much easier. Not that I have time to though! LOL
Oh, Kell!
That is just beautiful; it is really part of the landscape the way Monica does it.
Mine are just a bunch of pots sitting around; this is my second year for brugs. Last year Brugie helped me along and taught me a lot. The difficulty is getting it out of the brain and into the application. For now we just struggle to keep them alive ~ watering ~ feeding ~ driving off the pests.
This will be the goal for the next level ~ to make a breath-taking garden like yours.
I really appreciate your post Shirley!!!!! Yes, I suspected I would risk not having more blooms for a while; however, I have new ones that are blooming and I'll try to suffer through if the common ones I'm learning on, decide to stop blooming. My basket brug has bloomed once, with lots of blooms and should bloom again soon. My multi branch standard has bloomed 3 times this year and my tree brug has bloomed 4 times this spring, with many, many blossoms each time. I have a feeling the tree is going to continue to bloom as there are buds below. One other question, do you cut in front of or behind the nodes??? I cut in front but can always go back and cut behind, if need be. Thanks to all of you for your patience and good humor, for putting up with a newbies, such as I am. I have learned more this past week than all other weeks put together, and I REALLY like it now, I feel like I'm beginning to catch on and each day is more fun than the last. SLike
WOWIE, Kell, I would say you can keep all sorts of color beneath them!!! That is soooooooooo pretty and elegant, you have a real sense of style!! When the crop duster damaged my huge, multi branched standard, I learned two days later, that I would no longer be doing the big bushy brugs for my grotto garden. In addition to liking the looks of the defoliated brug almost 100% better, I found that the brugs are much easier to care for without all those leaves and, a very important factor here is that the bug situation almost disappears (slight exaggeration), including mosquitoes that love big leaves and lots of water. My multi standard had white flies out the kazoo, until it's leaves dropped, and now it so easy to care for that the white files have totally disappeared. I love the alley trees too, and as soon as one of my branches gets really tall and woody, I'm going to root an alley tree, although the only prospects are common varieties at this time. I can't wait to put one of my special brugs into alley tree training!!! Kell, how tall would you want a branch to be before cutting it to root????? BTW, I really appreciate having all you 'old brug timers' as mentors...
Sherry- Shirley gave you some great advice. Kell, I love the way your standards look. My goal with the mulitple branches is to get more blooms. My season is so much shorter then yours. WAHHHHHH I have such bad zone envy.
Great pictures on this thread. Thanks to all of you for posting. I have my taller tree type brugs in back with shorter branched ones in front in my three brug beds. All new for me so don't really know what i am doing. My thought is that the tall ones will be tall enough so that their blooms show even when the lower ones are in bloom. Have buds and blooms on quite a few of them but nothing spectacular. Donna
I just went out to inspect my alley tree prospects, which is a branch or one of the multi trunks on a standard brug. I have several that are 6 feet and several have Ys, but some are not as straight as I'd like. Given the choice, would you go with a straight branch without a Y, or would you go with the one that's not perfectly straight with a Y? Also, the one I like best is getting really tall and the top, loaded with leaves, wants to bend. I there anything I can do to keep it straight?? And, how woody does the branch need to be before I cut it. One last question - what kinda pot should I use when I root it and should I stake it when I plant it???? TIA!!!
Standard....bush.....I'm just happy when I get flowers! LOL Kristi, if your yard is a mess, I should be arrested for mine! LOL It looks like Kmart threw up in my back yard. ;) Now I have decided the pond and the playground should switch places. That is this years weight loss program. hahahaha
I don't know Sherry, I just whack on mine. I'd probably say to leave some stem to allow for healing. Maybe cut above the node an inch or so. That is just what I'd do, but like I say, I just whack.
If you want the nice straight alley tree, use the one without the Y but I would keep both.
datdog, I agree, with our short season, more branches would mean more flowers. I do not find the natural form of a plant, groomed a bit to enhance it, to be unattractive at all. I am not fond of too many 'lollipops' in the garden.
Chele! You never fail to make me laugh!!! Your so funny.
Chele, with 6 kids I'm surprised your backyard doesn't look more like KMart, ToysRUs, Wal-Mart and Target all made a visit to your backyard. I say this because we had 5, and I remember those days. LOL
Kell, your flowerbeds are always so beautiful. Wish I had your talent and your weather.
Thanks, Shirley!!! I will cut an inch or so above the node - I knew I was going to whack it more, and I'll probably do it today. We've had drenching rain, again, and other work is too boggy to start....
Chele, I wish I had your energy. Even when I was young I could never have kept up with you! 1 kid did me in! He still does. He did not get home last night till after 2 AM and I kept an ear out for his arrival. LOL
Donna, your garden sounds perfect! If I had the room I would try to do a border like yours. My problem is fitting in everything I want to grow. I just love color! Make sure you take pictures when they start to bloom. It will be incredible!
Kristi, I find I get to see the blooms much better when I use Monika's form of brug. They hang down and leaves do not interfere. I bet you will find it so with your form also!
Thanks for the compliments but I have no style except survival of the fittest. Plant, plant and plant some more. And you are right Sylvia, in my weather it is hard to fail!
