I see pictures here of Brugs with all of the leaves and suckers trimmed off leaving a crown and others with the leaves and suckers left on down to the ground. I trim only to a foot off of the ground primarily to make it easier to water, feed and scatter snail bait as well as keep weeds clear.
I'd like to hear other growers thoughts about pruning Brugmansia and why they prune like they do. Is there a standard shape for Brugmansia? Does climate come into consideration as to whether to prune or not? Is there a best time to prune?
Let me know what ya'll think!
X
Lifting Brugmansia's Skirts
My frosted pick [ 6 ft ] , 2 Charles Gr [ 7&8 ft ] , are treated as trees . Every 3 or 4 years we cut my Mom's double white to the ground . My double white is at ground level right now , but I think it died .
We have been pruning my sister-in-laws to shape only [ 8 ft ] .
Until I joined this site , I only knew of frosted pick , double white , single white , a single white with green veins in flower [ saw it when I went to wedding but no one was home and next time I went the people had cut it down ], and a single yellow [Charles Gr ] . Now I have cuttings from about 25+ others [ maybe more ] , some have rooted .
The only one with flowers is the 2 Charles Gr . rigth now .
Hi X.
I think shape is all personal preference, what your eye sees as pretty. And sometimes you are stuck at least for awhile, with the piece you get to start one with.
I prefer the standard form myself mainly because I have a small yard and I love so many kinds of plants I need to stuff in. LOL. But I also find the bush ones get so huge here for they live outside in the ground year round, that they take over! They are impossible to keep looking neat too for they get so big. Too messy with constantly with dead flowers and older yellowing leaves.
I can control a standard, keep it tended and underplant which is best of all. LOL..
To get a good standard tree, it is easiest to start with a sucker from a bush or to grow a seedling. Seedlings usually grow straight and true esp if you stake them from the beginning. I use wooden skewers for my little seedlings to keep them straight.
Here is a standard of mine that has been the center of my courtyard for a couple of years. I have plants in pots all below it so I can have maximum color contrast and impact. This was a seedling to start with.
OH, wow Kell. That is a gorgeous planting!!!
I like the standards as they seem to grow in a more controlled way...I can walk under them and be intoxicated by their scent, plant under them...and put a taller standard over them. I am about to trim my standards back a bit...to encourage more side growth....
Kell...you are an artist with your colors!!!
Carol
PS what's the purple bush behind?
Good Morning Carol! I need to email you about the Ti plants......I need expert advice. The ones I got from you seem to be coming along and rooting! I can't wait to get lots of gaudy leaves. LOL
That purple mound is a Solanum rantonnetii that I have trained over the years to be a small tree. It blooms its heart out for most of the months of the year. A great background tree. Do you have them where you are? I bet they would be huge there.
Thanks everyone for all your input.
Oh Kell, that is gorgeous .. you are indeed an artist with those colors .. even the thumbnail is pretty! You all are lucky that you stay green all year round. My brugs die back every year.
We had an exceedingly warm winter with spates of really hard freezes. My brugs are ahead of schedule by a month. I have 12 more that I rooted from cuttings that will go in the ground. What I am trying to do is create a room. I'm still trying to decide if I want a closed room or an open one. To be honest it never occured to me that I could plant under the brugs! lol That adds a whole new dimension.
My garden is still in it's infancy, Only 2 years old. The west half is tropical with brugs, canna, elephant ears and castor. The east side is english/cottage garden, with roses, anemones, a franklin tree and confederate rose along the fence.
I guess I'd better decide soon what to do about the brugs, they are growing like crazy.
X
Hi X,
I came upon your thread while searching for Brugs pruning how to. I have a huge brugs and I'm wondering if I prune it I'll loose the blooms?
Do you happen to have any pictures of you "brugs room" as of now?
Take care,
Rob
Noooo robbi don't prune your blooms away!!!
hahaah Kimarj ! I won't if pruning will reduce the number of blooms! But I need to know if that's really the case!
Well the growth above the Y is where the blooms come from : )
I have like 100 Ys....so should I prune everything that doesnt Y?
We need a expert!!!
I partially dismantled the brug room this year since I had new additions. I've found it takes 2 seasons for mine to get really filled out. I like the bush form so I let them keep multiple trunks .. but here is a pix that showed it's progress in 06.
As to pruning .. where I live they die back every year and come back bigger and stronger. It might be in the plants best interest to cut them back this winter and let them start over again. I know lots of plants do better when "given a rest".
X
X, that is such great info, your pics are really helpful! I pruned lots of branches under the canopy, leaving mostly an umbrella on top. I'll take a picture later on....so Kmarj can see there will be still plenty of blooms! : )
Ok makes sense to me lol!
The main thing with brugs is they are greedy guts when it comes to food .. I don't think you can over feed a brug. The more you feed it and water it, the faster it grows. I feed once a week until it starts Y ing and making buds then every 2 weeks. The reason I do that is because I want the Y's to be strong and cutting back on the food caused them to slow down and get more robust in my experience.
X
Thanks!