Should this be blooming now?

I have this Brugs 'Equador Pink' that I got through a mail order catalog a year ago. I kept in a pot for about a year and then planted it in the ground last spring. It's on the Southwest side of our yard .... sure hope it survives winter temperatures! This is the first time it has bloomed. I can't wait for them to open. They look yellow in color, but I thought they were supposed to be pink since it's called 'Equador Pink' .... maybe when they open they will be more in a pink shade! Anyway, I am so excited! Just had to post a photo.

LIn

Many brug blooms start out looking the same color as yours is, but change by the next morning or even sooner. Congrats on getting blooms. I think now is a good time for blooms in South Florida.

Brugie: But, I'm not in SOUTH Florida .... I'm in East Central Florida and we DO get cold here in the winter .... usually January/February time frame we can have a hard freeze. We are supposed to have low 40's possibly upper 30's the next couple of nights! I thought Brugs bloomed only in summer. I guess I will have to cover this "baby" up real good and hope for the best! I don't really want to dig it up, but I guess that's something I'm going to have to contemplate if it gets real cold here. We never have cold temps for long. If it gets cold at night, it usually warms right up to the 50's during the day in the winter months. I sure hope it survives!

Lin

LOL! I didn't pay any attention to where in FL you are. I just assumed if you had blooms now, you must be in southern FL since Gary has blooms. In any case, now is bloom time in southern FL for sure, and any place that isn't freezing CAN have blooms. A little protection when/if it freezes and you will be back in business shortly. Being on the coast should keep it from being too cold. Brugs will bloom year round with the right conditions and I'll bet you are pretty close. They bloom here right before frost, when the days are very cool and the nights are in the thirties. Sorry for my mistake.

Hi Lin, WELCOME to the Brug Forum and brugs! I am in your zone and just ran out to take a pic of my EP for you. It is white now and will stay white in the cold weather. Of course my EP is usually very pale PINK here anyway, never gets very dark. We were down to the very low 30s last week for a few nights and in the higher 30s during the day and it came thru with buds intact.

If you are going to get a hard freeze I would take some cuttings before just to be sure in case it dies on you. I left my EP out all last winter and it did pretty good even in our 1 frost. Usually Versicolors can be a bit more cold sensitive. It always gets weird bark with the real cold weather though. More so than my other brugs.

If you do leave it out, I would throw a sheet over it at night if you are expecting a frost. If it gets down below 30 degrees and stays there for awhile, you could have big problems.

Oh wow! They bloom even when your nights are in the 30's and they don't freeze? Maybe there's hope for mine!

I will cover them if we are expected to have a frost or freeze!

Thanks,

Lin

I fertilized right into November this year and noticed I am getting many more blooms late than I have in the past. I still have lots of buds too. I can't say the plants themselves are growing though, so I guess the cold has discouraged that which is just as good for I do not want a lot of green new growth to get frost bitten if we hit a bad cold spell.

Also it looks like your EP is right by a wall, that really helps when it gets cold. My special ones I drag into the hoophouse or on the front or back porch. It gives them just enough protection. If you can rig some clear plastic down from that wall and over the brug without touching it, it will love you forever. LOL

PS you yard looks os pretty!

My EP is right up next to our screen enclosure .... if we have any frost or real cold temp's I will probably cover it with a blanket or old comforter to try and keep it from freezing.

What's the best fertilizer to use? I've not fertilized this one yet!

Lin

When my 'yard boy' dragged Dr Seuss into the garage Monday afternoon, it had about 50 blooms. We're having our first nights at 28-30. The color was much paler than the last flush.

Plant lady, are you sure your in 9b?
Im at least an hour or more away from you and Im 9b.
I have few brugs I'm trying this year. I have some in the ground and some in pots and I've heard that they will do just fine here in this zone. They may get a little drab looking for a few months while its cold out but they will perk back up when it warms back up, around Feb.

That is a pretty plant! Your yard is nice too. Do post when the blooms open.. It seems to take forever with the cold weather.. but they last a long time, so that's an added treat!

I've been covering mine with sheets and table cloths.. they are doing okay for now, and we had a couple of nights that got down to 27 degrees which is rare for us.. I trimmed em back hard cause it was too hard to get em all covered.. So I only have a handful of blooms now...

Guardangirl: Thanks! I've been meaning to change my info since day one! I am actually in hardiness zone 9a, not 9b .... made the mistake when I first signed on and never remembered to change it.

Yeah, even though you are only an hour and a half south of me, it does stay a bit warmer in your area. We do get frost and on occasion a hard freeze up here in Daytona, but thank goodness they don't come too often in winter. We haven't had a real harsh winter in quite sometime and that's fine with me! I have 2 Shefflera trees in my back yard that were house plants years ago that I put in the ground! One grows much taller than the other. One is just above the roof level .... if we have a hard freeze, they are nothing but soggy brown leaves hanging down to the ground .... they have been hit hard by a couple of hard freezes over the years but have always come back in spring. They are beautiful trees, but I wish I had never planted them right next to our pool enclosure .... root system is causing the cement pool deck to crack badly! I knew that the Rubber Tree Ficus was bad about cracking cement, but didn't think these Sheff's would ever get such a root structure! I would love to move them, but my husband said I'm nuts .... impossible to dig out! My neighbor said I should cut them down and pour something on the roots to kill them, but I just can't bear to kill them!


ZZsBabiez: Thanks for the compliment, but my yard is a mess right now! I need to mow the back yard ... did the front over the weekend, but never got to the back! I plan on covering my EP Brugs with blankets if we have any frost or freezes this winter! I have two Brugs I got in trade here .... my very first trade on DG ... Thanks Nan! They are in pots and really looking great! I'm waiting for spring to plant them in the ground!

Lin