Joining the ranks with my first bloom

Seems like it's a rite of passage for newbies to share their first boom, so now it's my turn.
'Insignis Pink' I ordered the end of November before meeting the wonderful folks here.
It was about 8" when I received it with two and half wilted leafs. It's now a little over 3ft when it says it's nightly prayers. There were 2 buds to begin with and one stem suddenly darkened and dropped a week ago.
This afternoon it started splitting the calyx. It'll be interesting to see what happens although the book I have says I.P. likes it hot and the bloom won't be as large or colored.
Hoping it has a little fragrance... taste of things to come. :)

This message was edited Mar 28, 2005 7:52 PM

Very nice bloom 8ft. Would love to see it when it opens.
This time of year with less hours of sunlight the flowers can be lighter and smaller.

Not bad for a 'flatlander' .......*snickers*

TY snow and scoot : does it actually take several more days from this stage to when it opens?

(flatlander, hmmph!)

Here...here..... Congrats to you, 8ft !!!! BTW.... are you giving up sleep to watch the progress???? - LOL
Looks like it will only be a matter of days now. You can safely eliminate the terms 'months' or 'weeks' when referring to your lovely IP bud...(grin)
How exciting this must be for you to have your very first brugmansia flower. I have to tell you that this event is just as exciting for us old timers too. Especially those of us living in the cold climates who are still looking a snow mounds and are w/o greenhouses etc.
Maybe we should start a contest to see who can predict the exact time and day for this GRAND OPENING - LOL
Will be watching for progress photos.Too bad there isn't a way to include the fragrance along with the pics. ....
R.

Renee! I thought you had left the country.
It's too bad the Lamour with buds you gave me got her panties in a bunch and dropped everything. But she's finally settling in and has new growth on one branch while she dropped everything on the other. You know, that little stocky GL piece you have had a bud going for awhile in the basement but dropped it. A couple of the ones I started from your seed are very vigorous!

Lastly - it's hard to go to work in case I miss something and I've threatened the whole house and the hairball cat to stay at least 10' away from that table of brugs!!

Congratulations! Can't wait to see it fully open!

Congratulations to you!

TY, TY... can't wait to get out of here and see what progress it made today. These things remind me of the old catsup commercial: "Anticipation..."

Congrats, Blaine.

yes Blaine congrats,please show us a photo when she opens.

Getting closer!

Smiles and Congrats to you Blaine! Envy would be on the top of my list, LOL
Please keep us posted.

Congratulations! This is always a great occasion. Just to know that it grew because of loving care from you! You did good!
Bonnie

It is always exciting to watch the different stages of a brug bloom.

Watching for any news....annnnnnnnnnnnnnnn---ti-----------ci-------pat------------ing!!! lol Congrats so far Blaine :)

Julie BaBs

Another inch out of the calyx

Did she open today, 8ft?? She looks very healthy. Good luck!!

She looks great...but I have been sniffing too many Brugs...^^^hic^^^.

Carol (I think).

I guess I'll take satisfaction in getting a plant to bloom indoors.
This turned out to be a 'Shock and Awe' scenario. Huge build up with great expectations and excitement from all the adverising.
Ehhhh - it's ok but unfortunately, doesn't live up to the hype and photos. I realize it's indoors in cool temps. NOW - I'm wondering if I should rattle cages at Valleygrow who sold and labeled this as Insignis Pink. Looks like a garden variety, nondescript white to me. It does have a strange perfume if you bury your nose but not the wafting clouds of aroma I'm expecting.... in the summer I guess. :)

It could be a figment of my hallucinations (or lighting) but it almost looks like there's just a tinge of pink.

I see the pink, is still early... !!
The color of mine looks very similar, here is a photo from the beginning of fall where it had cooled off ....
Btw, does it smell like spicy sausages? That's how my 8 year old described it LOL

They look very similar. I see the pink in yours too, 8ft, and it is pretty and your photo is nice. I know what you mean by buildup - last year, every one raved about what a nice plant Dr Suess is for novice growers. Well, I got one and it bloomed quickly, with what i thought were puny blossoms and never a fragrance, and if that wasn't bad enough, it was a bug magnet, dropped blossoms and leaves all the growing season. I didn't keep a cutting, but it did make it through the winter, outside, so, I'll give it another chance, even tho at least of my unknowns are MUCH prettier, with a fragrance, and the bugs don't bother them. You are in the magic zone, 8ft, so I expect, when you get going, you will find many that love living with you. I do have some that love it here, and I'll concentrate on those...

I think from looking at your pic that she will turn pink (ish)

Almost all brug blooms open mostly white/yellowish.

Sorry to hear that about the Dr. Seuss. I was looking forward to that boy with the orange. Maybe he'll do something different for me. I'll put him on steroids and hang a picture of the compost pile around his neck.

Now here's a thought. I understand brugs can be bug magnets, but I wonder if we have less of a problem up here without the humidity. Scoot - how bad are bugs at your place?

I just went and took a quick peek and notice the bloom has tried to gather her skirts and close up. Do they do this outside as too and just open up for the night life?

Blaine,

most of the blooms will take a siesta during the day.

So far bugs are not really a problem here , could be due to the way I diversify my plantings.

Blaine job well done, i wish I could get mine to bloom in the house, then I could get my fix on fragrence for the winter can't wait for summer here.

JoAnn

Scoot, please tell me/us how you keep the bugs at bay, due to the way you diversify your plants. Do you mean that there are plants that deter bugs, or what?? I know marigolds are supposed to do that, but they never have for me. I'd love to plant any way that would help the bug situation, especially slugs, ugh!!!

Diversifying plant placement is an ' old as dirt' organic gardeners trick.

Mixing the species so you do not present a smorgasbord of same type plants in one spot.

You can even find some gardens inter-planting food an herbs with flowers.

You can also inter-plant bug food type plants to draw the bugz and cats away from the flowers.

They love milkweed and Sea Kale in my garden.



Sea Kale (in the middle)*note the chewed up Sea kale leaves while other plants are clean*

This message was edited Apr 2, 2005 3:08 PM

Thats good news Scoot. I had heard of the problems with monoculture a long time ago. I think by avoiding that situation intentionally and by necessity is why I have little to no problem with insects. 'Necessity' being the part where I order, buy or bring home stuff from plant swaps and THEN figure out where to put them. So the different varieties are scattered around the yard and bugs can't zero in on one location and have a feast.

My chemical warfare is limited to Roundup and Weedbegone. So by avoiding the insecticides I keep lots of beneficial predators and I try to encourage birds as I've added more trees around. The Robins are fantastic bug eaters. I'll have a couple of nests on my own property but they come in from around the neighborhood and the residents let them hunt in different corners. Then when their babies fledge, neighbor broods get herded over to my yard. I've had up to 12 fledglings in my yard with the parents coming and going trying to avoid confrontations with the resident pairs. Fun to watch as they each have a specific flight path to enter and leave the yard. You don't want to stand in the way either!.

JoAnn I've found it's not too hard to get stuff to bloom in the house under fluorescents. I feed and water like it's outside... mostly out of boredom. This was a volunteer that snuck in with some compost in a pot I was trying to root something in which died. This little sprout was leggy and languishing. Eventually it stood up and started to grow and I just left the pot where it was to see what the seedling was. I cut off the main stock with the first big bloom, staked it and moved it under the the bigger lights and you see the flush thats coming on now. I've had petunias and geraniums bloom down in the basement all winter long before.

Well, Scoot, your post is the most helpful to me, thus far, in 2005. Maybe what you've said has been posted by you and others previously - if I read it, the importance zipped right by me. I've always used a variety of plants, because, IMO, it's more pleasing to the eye and I love informal, country gardens. So, here's what I didn't know, or grasp - that if you plant a bunch of tasty brugs together, that they will likely draw more bugs. Well, duh. Fact is, I knew it, and reported last year that my lone brugs, in several service yards, didn't have bugs, but just didn't put two and two together until I read your post tonight. I've always planted herbs and garden veggies with my flowers, sweet 100s, cucumbers, onions, etc. So, tell me - where will I find Milkweed and Sea Kale?? I assume/hope they are perennials. And, are there others that attract bugs??? I've never found Marigolds to be helpful, but maybe they would be with brugs. I looking forward to having a new bug project that doesn't include sprays - thank you so very much!!!

Sherry there are many types of milkweed ,just check on line for seeds.

Same goes for the Sea Kale, I just happened to pick that one cause it is supposedly hardy here.

Sea kale is a member of the cabbage family but there are other ornamental forms also.

some of my fav sources for seeds are
http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/categories/perennials.html
http://www.sunriseseeds.com/King's%20Spear.0.html
http://www.superseeds.com/home.htm

Sherry , check our Garden Watch Dog before ordering anything on line.
http://davesgarden.com/gwd/
One company I used to do business with has failed miserably the last 2 years.

I remember the excitement when I finally got my first buds. And then to see the tendrils, and the hope and excitement I felt - wondering what color I would see......... ya never know when they are seedlings like I had.

Scoot, what is the low growing plant with the big leaves in front of the Brug in your picture?

Ada , It's Sea Kale

I use it to attract & feed chewing insects.

This message was edited Apr 2, 2005 9:08 PM

Thanks Scoot. I'm going to have to plant me some. I like the looks of it.

Wow!!! At last you also have bloom. Vey beautiful and attractive color, Thanks for sharing with us.
Kaleem

HEY, 8FT----I AM SO THRILLED OVER YOUR BRUG--LOOKS ALITTLE PINK TO ME. KEEP US UPDATED, LOVED THE PIC'S. GINI

Hah! Look who's here!!!
Now we gotta hook you up with a couple of other brug lovers right there in your neighborhood!

I'll go off topic here to ask if you got sedum yet? Make sure you start looking at the pics in the other threads. This little indoors bloom is nothing compared to the color, size and fragrance thats coming. Everyone else's pics gives me a little patience. :)

Blaine, show us another photo, you sound a little dissappointed. I was so thrilled with my first bloom that I could hardly stand it. I'm sure yours will show more pink when you get it outside.

Dr Seuss is one of my favorite, always starts out light yellow and as the blooms age they turn orangy. Mine has 4-5 good size buds now and always smells wonderful. It has just been moved from gh to outside, so I hope the buds hold.