This is the first brug I got as a little bitty cutting four years ago, an unnamed pink. Today it was dug up to go in the greenhouse. I already pruned it back to six nodes on each branch. It was 15 feet tall. The brug on the right was a cutting at the beginning of the summer. I guess that is why there are so many unnamed pinks, they grow fast, resist disease. and set pods like crazy.
This message was edited Nov 25, 2004 2:35 PM
Close up of the trunk.
Nice trunk on that tree, Loretta. Did it fit in your greenhouse?
lol It can't stand up without poking a hole through the top. So it will spend the winter laying down. I thought about just leaving it out or giving it away but nobody wanted to come by and picked them up.
Oh wow...that's a nice one, Loretta! Wonder if it would come back in the Spring if you protected it really well in its spot. It might be worth a try next year. You could always take cuttings in case it didn't return...
Hi Loretta (saw your name on Brugies message). Very healthy plants you have. Being new, have I messed up by cutting the ones I planted in the ground? I left 4-8 inches on them. Cut up all the plants, mostly "Y's" and some stalk cuttings, put them in water till each rooted and then put them in dirt. I don't have a green house so should I have left the big plants, that are planted in the ground, alone and see what happens next Spring? Any Help????? Thanks, George
If you mulch them well, they should come back next year. But did you put the cuttings in dirt outside? I doubt they would make it through a freeze. The cuttings should be inside. You can leave them all winter in a dim cool place in water, or you can pot them and give them more sun. I will pot them as they grow roots because I want a head start on the season. Otherwise, mine don't start blooming until September. I'm really between zone 6 and 7.
edited to say September instead of December.
This message was edited Nov 26, 2004 8:34 AM
Thanks woodspirit1, I'm pretty close. The ones in the ground outside are cut back to 4-8" and well mulched. The cuttings are inside. And the potted ones that I cut back are in the house, too. Should I have left any of my plants un-cut? Here are the cuttings and if I can I'll also attach the potted ones. George
And, the potted plants that I cut back.
You could have left your potted plants uncut, I think. What a headstart they would have had in the spring. I know I have seen pictures of monika bringing her plants inside to her greenhouse for the winter. She has some huge ones, too.
LOL, This is my Dr. Seuss on the front porch and I moved it in last week when we had frost. I hate to loose the flowers. It took up half of my main room in my small place. So, no GH + small house = gotta cut!!!
I keep as many as I can without cutting on them other than maybe a slight haircut. When I run out of room, I start taking cuttings.
Thanks Brugie, that is my problem, not enough space. But I make room for cuttings and pots, lol.
Mine are stored in the basement room of a mansion where I volunteer in archives (on the 2nd floor). We have a few items down there and it is heated, so I stuck mine in there. Hope I don't get caught. I did this last year too, lol.
Great photo and GH and you are pretty cute too, Loretta!!! Once again, I learn that I'm chatting with a child, and I haven't learned as thing or two from you too!!
Hello, again, Marc!! I'm in zone 8a too and, yeah, I haven't had a frost yet, happy, happy!! Tomorrow, I'm going to purchase about 75 sacks of cypress or cedar mulch and each brug will receive two sacks, none will be cut back, but I will take selected cuttings to aerate and root in the green house. Last year, my original unknown brug, had multiple hardened stalks that I had no idea would root and I cut them back in the spring, duh, and tossed the cuttings. If I had not done that, I surely would have been signing up for a brug farm loan, ha!! I can grow brugs, but next season, I will concentrate on bed improvement and insect control - I wonder if there is anything I can do this winter with regard to bugs and insects??
I'm like brugie, I try to keep mine as big as possible. Leaving them in the ground would be nice but it takes a while for them to come back and I want blooms early. That big one starts in May and goes until the frost.
Actually you can put up an inexpensive greenhouse if you're creative.
First you make your husband carry the plants in and out of your house all winter especially right when the football game is going to start. Next year he will be offering to build you a greenhouse.
I can take some better pictures of my little greenhouse DH put up for me for.........15.00! lol We had all kinds of wood laying around (I am a packrat), the glass storm door came from these people who were throwing it away at the dump, and DH
found a great big roll of 6 mil plastic laying off to the side of the road. . The only thing we bought was some pvc. We put plastic on the outside and another on the inside with an air space of 4" between them. I had four shop lights and I use two of those radiator style heaters. In my zone those work fine to overwinter all the tropicals but the most tender. Those come inside for the winter. I put this one up by the AC/HV unit. The exhaust from the heat should raise the temps at that end of the house a few degrees. Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I tasted and nibbled all day when cooking so could'nt eat that much when it was ready. But I will make up for that with the leftovers. lol
woodspirit1, mercy me, this is fun, I love it. This is the 2nd year you've hidden the brugs in the basement?? Wow, you are a brave girl. If they 'catch' you and, if it's a problem, don't forget to tell them that it's an addiction that is worse than alcohol, drugs and gambling and that there is NO cure, ya know??!! Keep us posted!!!
No, what I am prepared to say is that some of the brugs will go in the ground at the mansion and some will end up at the new library the following summer. Once we move out of the mansion and into the new library, I'll have to come up with another scheme......
