I've been experimenting. This is the same type Angel’s Trumpet, fed the same but planted differently.
#1) 19 gallon pot
#2) Large Kiddy Pool, hacked to allow roots to grow into the earth beneath
#3) Raised bed, no restrictions on root growth.
At the Spring RoundUp in Tupelo, MS, Yardbird (Ruth) and her DH Lamar encourged me to put my brugs in the ground, they were so right!!!
Judy
This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 8:14 AM
Judy, your brugs are just unbelievable!
that comparison with the photos is very convincing. If I had the room and the climate, they'd be in the ground, free to grow as they want.
Judy , do you dig them up in the fall? cause I know you get freezing weather there.
My 3 year old frosty was huge last year, and bit the dust this winter cause I didn't mulch it, and I mulched it previous years, I was sick cause it didn't come back, I don't think I want to put any more into the ground, it's just too much trouble to dig them up in the fall . They do grow better in the ground.
I find that my canna I have in the ground have less problems with bugs as well compared to containered.
Judy, if you mulch really well in the fall after the first frost, you can probably leave them in the ground.
X
Tis true, some I mulched and some I didn't, I mulched heavily, snowbank, peaches and cream, and they came back finally in June they started coming back out of the ground LOL their so tiny , I plan to dig them up this fall and take them inthe greenhouse
See, Kathy Ann is the same zone as Judy and hers were mulched and they came back in June. She lost a couple of months of growing time because they are so small. If she had dug them and started them early (providing she had the space etc.) then she would have been ahead of the game.
Jeanette
At the Mid-South RoundUp/Plant Swap Yardbird's husband, Lamar, told me to cut them off and put a large flower pot over the top of them with a weight on top to hold it down. Sure enough she had blooms on one of her "in ground" brugs 2 weeks after I did, on the ones that were inside all winter.
Kathy, probably the reason your "in ground" brugs aren't doing as well is because we've had such dry, hot weather.
Judy
This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 10:58 AM
We put 8 more in the ground a week ago. Some of them were a little shocked and lost some leaves, but are pulling out of it and didn't drop their buds.
Judy
This would be so great for you Judy!! What a great idea about the pots on top of them.
Great comparison, Judy. I'm in 7B also and many come back for me but if they are versi's, they never come back for me no matter how much I protect them in the ground.
ahelms
WOW Thanks for that information!!!
Judy
Found the following info on one of the Brug Society Websites
"they’ve even survived zone 7 winters. Repeated ground freezes, year after year, will eventually weaken and kill the plant."
So I'll take cuttings as a backup if I really like the Brug.
Judy
they are awesome great growing ..
Ywyla
Twyla,
You'll love this one I took the picture this morning... it's one we recently put in the ground.... and buried the tag so I have no idea what it is. We'll just call it BEAUTIFUL!!!
yes, the weather has been terribly hot here, I do plan on digging those up this fall and putting them back out in the spring time, maybe it will work better that way
You guys might find this interesting. I had a Charles Grimaldi, about 7 feet tall, in the ground last fall. I dug him up, put him in a black trash bag and put him in a 3 gallon bucket. I tied the bag up close to the trunk and put a tie around it. Just watered him about 3 or 4 times during the winter. Kept him in the basement, unfortunately It was warm in there. I brought him out this spring and put him back in the ground. but he did just fine and is about to bloom.
Jeanette
FWIW - I'm on the line of zone 7b and zone 8a. I plant the brugs in heavily mulched ground. Right before the first hard freeze, usually in Dec, I go out and make selected cuttings, always the prettiest limbs on the brug. Then I 'mound' mulch the part of the brug left in the ground. I do not cut the brug back, until it becomes so unsightly I cannot stand it, then I make a pretty clean sweep, cutting them down to about 6 inches on top of the mulch. I used to use cypress or cedar, but I have switched to a wonderful pine mulch, which is ground pretty fine (NOT the pine BARK pieces, which are too big) from Lowes, I love it. I take the cuttings, generally full of buds, to the bubbler in the greenhouse. They bloom all winter inside and in the spring, I take the cuttings out early and put them in the ground, and this year, I've had brugs blooming just about all year round. I had brugs that wintered outside bloom in early spring this year, particularly, Eternity, a cutting from Susie, and it is still blooming (they melt on the really hot days) but by golly they bloom. Interesting about my GH cuttings/rootings, to me anyway, it seems that the cuttings I root over the winter, from mature plants, bloom more quickly than cuttings taken from plants that have never bloomed, say a first year seedling or cutting. I dunno. Anyone else notice this?? My versies, sp, make it through the winter every year, this year with the mild winter, they didn't do as well as they've done in colder winters. Go figure.
