Opinions wanted: theory on producing a tree from Y cutting

This is Butterfly who's in her first flush since going in a small pot with holes drilled in the sides and then sunk. (pseudo monica rec)

If I have brugs next year I want LOTS of Butterfly but want tall tree forms. (visitors whine about dirty knees getting down to enjoy)

Here's an idea that popped up this morning and I'm wondering if anyone who has to overwinter indoors (or otherwise) has done it.

I've read how some of you down south (but above FL) leave brugs in ground but they die back to the roots then regrow each year. What if this fall I cut back butterfly to soil level when I lift the pot for the winter. It seems I should then be able to get shoots from the roots that will want to be regular sized. Of course I'll keep some cuttings just in case. With that in mind, I was also thinking I could leave the GL in ground until frost hits it once or twice. Then cut it off flush with the ground, dig and pot the rootball and hopefully it will send up new growth.

Thoughts???

Here's a non-brug shot for you Pink freaks and it smells great too.

Blaine, the 'best' type brug I've grown is the log cutting. I think it grows the type you want and if it doesn't, you can groom it into the form you want. However, I only base this on one log cutting sent to me and about ten that I have rooted myself. Charles Grimaldi is a rooting fool and I have given away all except two logs and I thought I'd send one to you because I know it's easy to grow and roots easily, and I hope it's beautiful and I understand it is fragrant and, I'd really like to see how the log travels. It is not large but, it is well rooted and healthy. Let me know and I'll get her packed up and mail her to you, while there is still enough summer left to get an idea as to what it will do....

Hey Blaine, who are you calling a freak??? HUH??? LOL

I have no clue!! I wish you lived here. I have a huge Buttefly I just planted at the end of last year that has 3 suckers coming up that must be 10 ft tall. You could have them all. It was supposed to be a standard but the suckers showed up when I was not looking.

I find I get the best tall suckers when I plant in the ground. Even above the Y starts, will sucker tall ones.

Another way, is get some good Butterfly cross seeds. They make great standards in 1 year. Plus you will have some suspense waiting to see just what you get.

Hey 8ft., what is the wonderful looking pink one you just posted?
Thought at first a lowly zinnia had moved into your paradise, but now dont think so. It is truly pretty, but then you know I love PINK!!

Then you'd like this and it would be right at home in your xeriscape bed. It's a cone flower - Razzmatazz. Guess I know what to get you next . ;)

ouch, pink freaks. lol. but we are girls (or at least most of us are).

blaine, that sure is one pretty brug. may i use it as a reference for a painting? not painting it until you say it's ok. thanks.

Blaine,

I think you need to pull that pot out, put it in a bag and store it inside (cool area like a basement) over winter. Where you live, I think it would completely die if you left it outside during the winter time. I'm zone 6a and I can't leave mine outside.

Blaine, there you go tempting me with Razzy again and I can't pick up the cans fast enough. Washingtonians don't litter. LOL

Jeanette

We most certainly don't! :-) I even picked up the litter in my trash garden for the garden shoot! dang! we up these places are the best of people and finding a can, cup or napkin in our gardens is considered "ouch"! Wind blows, but we catch them!

Sherry - didn't miss your offer but did fail to respond. Thanks and I'd like to take a raincheck since another member is already rooting one for a sideswap. If it's OK, I'll definitely take you up on it if the other deal falls through.

Moon - what's not to like about pink? :) (I may be a closet pink freak and still in denial - one of my favorite flowers is the dainty, delicate pink cosmos) Be my guest with the pic if that works for you.

Karrie - absolutely. That's what I mean by lift the pot for the winter. Then I'll slide it into a slightly bigger pot or in a bag and it will go into the basement. I posted this somewhere else, but here's what the pot looked like before sinking it in the ground.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2005 2:18 AM

nice holes there Blaine. I'd thought about trying that myself this year and ended up just planting two in the ground, without pots. I do plan on digging them up in the late fall right before the temps dip (spring and fall I am an addict with my zipcode on Weather.com) and put them into black bags with some of the soil. It will be a first for me but I am thinking this can work. I'm going to add stuff the bag before I put the away, like the systemic Kell told us about, Bayer Tree & Shrub.

I love the blue pot and I've done a big pot like that but for some reason I cannot see a pot that small working here in our heat/humidity, but I'm game for just about anything that might work, so I'll give it a try...........Oooops, I was going to let the CG offer die a natural death because that sweet log cutting, along with several other small, but nicely rooted logs, had a huge limb fall on them, within hours after I posted - they will pull through, but some were unknowns and I don't have any idea which ones are which, so, they will go to the neighbors, who don't give a flip, except they want pretty and fragrant...

Sherry, that sounds like my luck. LOL I offered a plant to a friend and when I went to get it, it was gone. I really felt like a fool for offereing them a plant and it disappeared. At least yours was still there , or pieces of it. LOL

Blaine, I forgot to say, I love the Razzmatazz.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2005 3:34 PM

Blaine, I love that pink flower. What is it? It looks like half zinnia, half cone flower.

Hi Blaine, so I see another person loved the pink flower, thinking
also it was part zinnia, a coneflower, How Neat, even the name is
enticing! Is this from seed, or bulbs? And would it winter on my south side bed? Hmmmm something to think about.
P S was gone 3 days, and when got back, walking the flower check,
Yipes the silly lillies (naked ladies) had shot up about 18 inches and had 3 to 4 blooms on top, no leaves nothing to cover their nakedness, shameless hussies:):)

Razzmatazz - I just saw that. Very pretty!

hahaha Lizzie! Gone 3 days? boy, you're a slippery one.

Sherry I agree the pot by itself would be to small for anysize but it's buried with only an inch of the pot above the soil. I may have put another row of holes around it as well. Just the same, that plant has sent roots out those holes. I just fertilize directly into the pot and the same with water sometimes. We've just been through some southern style heat and humidity and it acted like the others planted in ground and never wilted.

Okay, now I get it Blaine, I guess I was thinking with that spiffy blue that you only planted it to right above the holes and I just never thought about doing that with little brugs, what a good idea, and it would stabilize ones like I had my logs in from turning over and maybe help protect them from limbs, and the animals. I do lots of big plants, that have to go to the GH for the winter like that and it works nicely - I wrapped the holes with duct tape last year because I ran outta pots and it worked great...

Yep, Ada, and I know you had a Lab that helped you too. I had a big, fat squirrel fall right in the middle of one, so I very carefully moved all of them were I thought they would be safe and, splat, a limb fell, but the wind was blowing like holy heck.

Sherry, I have three labs who are terrors to my flower beds. LOL

Ada, I found something good to deter animals when my girl doggie was digging and I'll get the name for you. Only thing, if you are like me, it would take a couple of dump truck loads to get enough to do any good, whew!!

Sherry: I put Cayenne Pepper in my flower beds in N.M. because the cats used them for potty trays,
Now am wondering if you bought a big can sprinkled some in the flower beds, would that keep the dogs from going back? It is HOT and when they sniff or lick YIPES, just a thought

You're right, Sherry. I'd have to order it by the dump truck load. LOL
Lizzie, my dogs romp amd wrestle with each other and act like they're wild and love to get in my flowerbeds romping and breaking plants as they go with me just a screaming at the top of my lungs at them. LOL Of course, they don't pay me no mind. They keep romping into the next flower bed. After they get thru roping, they come up to you so innocent looking. LOL

Oh, Ada, you describe my Goldens to a T. My word, they are awful and I often wonder why I put up with them, then they lay their big ole heads on me and I melt, they are really wonderful companions and give unconditional love.

Lizzie, cats are WORSE than my dogs ever thought about being, lol!! I have both and my cats killed several brugs last year - they used my flower beds for a litter box. Cayenne Pepper doesn't faze my dogs or cats...my dogs pick cayenne pepper outta the garden for treats, amazing, but true, they LOVE hot peppers, can you believe that??

Sherry, our dogs can be a handful at times. LOL The Choc. lab thinks one of my hands has to be rubbing and patting her the whole time I'm dragging the hoses around watering the plants. She spends a lot of time in the kiddie pool I have for them on these hot 100+ days then she'll find some loose dirt to lay in and the mud is just caked to her. LOL

SherryLike: well your dogs sound like they are spoiled with LOVE,
hey that ain't bad, that could be a super show watching them going thru all the pretties, well guess Cayenne wasnt even an idea lol

I wonder if cayenne will deter kitties from using overwintering brug pots as their litter box.

orange and lemon peels.

Blain, I live in zone 8a and my brugs freeze and return in the spring. One problem you may encounter with taking it in is it may want to sprout and send up several new starts. It also takes several months for the growth to reach a y and Butterfly is less vigorous than many brugs. Possibly if you live in a cooler area it might like it better. It may not like the heat and humidity in Mississippi.

Thanks Bward - if it sent up several starts I'd eventually take them off and grow separately. This is one I'd like to have multiples off. Since the holy sunken pot was planted it's really taken off.

You guys are giving me ideas for the 2 trees I in the ground but up against the house..................................... like celllophane (clear, not pink)