Cautiously optimistic....

Hello All.

Two weeks ago, I posted this picture of my Charles Grimaldi's and requested advice on doing a better job with them. I got tons of helpful advice from many people and I paid attention to it.

Erick

Here are the same Brugmansias today, after fertilizing them every other day and applying Messenger once. I am still hoping to get a few blooms this year. We still have three good months of growing here in Minnesota.

Thank you again to everyone.

Erick

Note the improvement in the Frosty Pinks behind the Charles Grimaldis, too....

Nice!

What are you fertilizing with?

Looking good, Erick. I hope you get lots of blooms this summer.

that is an amazing change!

They look wonderful!

Thank you all for the kind comments. At Brugie's kind suggestion, I am fertilizing my Brugmansias (and everything else) now with Peters 20-20-20. It seems to be really helping.

Erick

Erick , They look great !!

Wonderful job Erick. I'm not sure if it was mention in the other tread that everyone posted on but keep a lookout for the plants to start Ying. Once you see them Ying, it won't be long before you have blooms. I make a trip around every evening looking for Y's on mine.

Dott

Wow!! What a change!! They look great. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your blooms.
Caren

I can just picture your front entrance in 2 months, Erick! WOW with those brugs welcoming all your friends.

Looking so good.

Thank you very much jerodsmom and Dott.

Dott, I, too, carefully check over my small Brugmansia collection every day (ok, several times a day!) looking for new Y's. So far, only Insignis Gold has Y'd. It has tons of tiny buds, but none of them are developing yet. I hope that will change soon.

It sure is nice to have an outlet to share personal growing accomplishments. Thank you all again.

Erick

Thank you Caren. I'll take all the help I can get!

Thank you Kell. Just for fun, here is a picture of the front entrance to our our condo building. The front two Brugs are the Charles Grimaldi's, the middle two are Frosty Pink, and the large ones in the back are Rosamond X Ecuador Pink that RikerBear kindly shared with me as seedlings two years ago.

By the way...to the left of each of the Charles Grimaldis, under the spent Peruvian Daffodils, are three Daturas (inoxia, 'Lavendar Halo' and 'Golden Queen'). For some reason, the Daturas are taking FOREVER this year to get going - they are still less than 8 inches tall after 2 1/2 months. But I am confident (hoping) they will catch up.

Erick

Here is a closer shot of the two Rosamond X Ecuador Pinks. RikerBear sent them to me as seedlings in the fall of 2004. I somehow miraculously got them through the past winter in a semi-dormant state in the basement. As late as two weeks ago, they literally looked like death, with a only a few ugly yellow leaves. Not anymore!

The plant on the right had a few blooms late last fall. They are a large, pretty pink. The plant on the left has not bloomed for me yet.

All the best to all of you.

Erick

I can see blooming brugs lining that grand entrance for quite the sight.

In a year or 2, if you like the standard look, you can grow those you have to tall, single trunk ones and they will look so cool going all the way up.

What a perfect spot to display your beauties!

How do you water, Erick? Do you have a hose handy?

Those 2 Rosamond X Ecuador Pinks look so happy. Food and water make brugs happy. With me it is food and wine. LOL Have you seen what flower those seedling made yet? I bet it is a pretty cross.

Kell, I have had that same vision a thousand times during the past couple years....how stunning that would be. Now I just need the experience to learn how to make it happen. It has been quite an adventure so far.

I've seen pictures of those tall, single-trunk Brugmansias and think they are STUNNING. Add it to the list of things I want to learn someday!

I run sprinklers in the garden pretty much every day. The Brugs in the pots in the picture, however, I water with a large watering can. Every single day. Sometimes twice a day. A minimum of four trips.

The two Rosamond X EP's have really turned around lately. One of the two had a few flowers last fall. They were a large, pretty pink. The other has not bloomed for me yet.

I second the food and wine!

Thank you Kell.

Erick

I get my standards from suckers or from seedlings. If you get a sucker growing low on one of your main trunks or coming up from the soil, leave it be till it gets real tall. They sucker for me when I get them into 20 to 25 gallon pots. I then cut them off low and root them.

Or seedlings can grow so tall before they Y, just stake them as they grow so you get a nice straight trunk. And hope you get a good enough to love flower on it.

You have nice wide steps there so you will be able to have big pots. Also I have been buying fancy ceramic pots and they come in taller than wider if you do not want to use up step space. But I have noticed if too tall and not so wide they can keel over and go boom, crash and gone in a million pieces! OUCH! And besides that, they dry out fast.

Gosh hand watering, that can get old. Hose watering can get old too! LOL. You are devoted for sure.

What a wonderful improvement Erick. Your entrance will be mighty beautiful when they begin to bloom. Looks like a fantastic building you live in also.
I sure hope you begin to show signs of buds Buds and more buds really soon.

Thank you, Kell, for the most helpful information on creating standards. I'm anxious to give them a try.

I wish I had more money to spend on pots, but the big ones get soooo expensive. Therefore, I have to use the black pots that I scrounge from nurseries, dumpsters, friends, etc. Hand watering does indeed get old - but I do it happily in the hope of getting some flowers this summer!

Thank you GardenGuyKin. I do enjoying living in my condo. It's a six-unit building that was built in 1906. It has the typical challenges of old buildings, e.g. old electrical, old plumbing, etc. but the all the character and the neighborhood makes it worth it.

Erick

Erick, see if you can get some of the bigger black ones for later when they really get big. Or you will be watering twice a day easily. I understand landscapers have lots they dump.

I know the feeling. Most of my budget goes to dirt and pots! Way more than I spend on clothes!