I'm still working on figuring out this Y thing. On my Frosty pink that I purchased last year (it has to put up from ground here), I should expect it to bloom at about the same height as it was blooming last year right? Okay if it starts blooming at about 4 ft and I take cuttings this fall. What would I expect from
1) the cuttings below the blooming y
2) the cutting above the blooming y
charlotte
newbie question
They seldom bloom at the same height of last year. Cuttings above the Y will flower sooner than those taken below the Y.
Monika is correct - it's difficult to predict the height at which a brug will flower from year to year. Cuttings from above the Y usually make a shorter, bushier plant that blooms sooner while cuttings from below the Y are good for growing plants to a tree form.
I have two brugs in the ground in my yard. Their first year they were in containers and Y'd at about 3ft tall. Now that they are in the ground and have to grow back from the roots every year, one of them (C. Grimaldi) wants to get about 4ft tall before it Y's and my unnamed pink wants to be 5ft before it Y's. Needless to say that limits their blooming season since they are just getting really nice looking about the time the frost hits. That's why I've now decided to grow all my new brugs in containers and garage them in the winter.
I think it's possible to take large cuttings (like an entire "trunk") and keep them in a bucket in a garage or basement overwinter so that in the spring you have a nice tall rooted plant ready to go. I am going to try that myself this fall.
I have had the same experience with a Dr. Suess that I overwintered in the ground. It has yet to bloom this year and it is about 4.5 feet tall. The cuttings I rooted from this same plant and put in pots have bloomed beautifully and are now putting on their second blooms. So I'm also thinking that the ones in the ground are just too slow. We do have a long blooming season here but this plant's blossoms had better be spectacular to be worthy of all the fertilizer, watering, etc. LOL
Absolutely, my pink one hasnt bloomed yet-it had to come up from the ground. I dont have any good place to store them unless its in a space under the house that stays dark.
charlotte