I'm afraid you are all more sophisticated than I am -- I'm not doing any hybridizing and am not trialing anything ... I hope y'all don't mind my jumping in, but I have to share my excitement at getting this wonderful Bergkönigin (Mountain Queen) that I've been wanting since I saw it on a German site years ago!
I asked for one that was woody where it met the soil, since I've received so many that were green at the soil line and find that their survival, especially in the deep-south heat, is not a sure thing.
The plant that just came, besides coming from a woody trunk (yay!), is 2' tall, has a little side branch and is topped with a Y!!!
!!!
Woohoo! Just got Bergkönigin - big and Y'ed
We don't mind at all.. Welcome to the Brug forum SilkKnoll... we are glad to have you! I believe you will find the brug forum to be a happy place.
Congratulations on getting Bergkönigin! What a wonderful brug to start out with!
Do post pics of your new beauty and don't forget us when you get blooms!
Thank you for the welcome, ZZsBabiez. I've been collecting for a while, but the winter takes its toll every year. I'll sleep with this one before I let it freeze, though!
I'll definitely be waiting with my camera when her first blooms open!
Welcome SilkKnoll,
I can sympathize about the deep heat - but our is a dry heat. Wish you and your business well. Alabama is a place I want to see some one of these days. I have family around Hacklesburg - they're just the finest kind of people!
Jackie
Wow I can not wait to see the blooms are you going to be posting them?
From the pictures I have seen, that is one beautiful brug! Congratulations!
Jenny
It's a dark pink, double Candida from Dorothea Langenberg. This pic is from the UK nursery Jungle Gardens. He calls it one of the deepest reds he's seen, and Gommer says it's the most beautiful dark pink double. I'll definitely post pictures when she blooms.
This pic is from the Jungle Gardens site.
This pic is from the hybridizer, Dorothea Langenberg, posted on BGI.
SilkKnoll,
Welcome to the Brug Forum. That is a beautiful Brug.
Welcome Silknoll. It won't be necessary for you to stay up all night waiting on the birth of your first bloom .... but I bet a few people here have done it. LOL I've heard some people even have those miners hats with the lamps built in.
I too got my first Bergkonigin. Talk about doing a happy dance!! I was doing my inspections and found that I have buds!! Doing another happy dance, with very weird looks coming from my hubby!
Mary, DayDreams is doing great but I just can't get her to bloom. I haven't a clue what I am doing wrong or what to do about it!
Is daydreams dropping buds, or just not budding. I have seen her do both. There is little you can do, fertilize and wait. My Adeline dropped 18 big buds before one ever opened. Those doubles do take so long to get their first blooms. It can be such a pain waiting.
My berkonigan was very slow to bloom for me last year. The first blooms came during the peack of our hot weather and where not perfect. Later when it colled off it did give me two wonderful blooms so i am looking forward to seeing more this year.Other doubles that i started at the same time didn't flower last year, so i have plenty to look forward to this year. Mon Ami da marial(didn't spell that right, never do) is 8 feet tall, has y'd and never bloomed yet. Hoping for a great summer.
Brenda said it all. I think I had Daydreams for a year and one half before I got blooms. Adeline took over 2 years before the buds stayed on. They'll try your patience, but once they do start it's worth the wait. They must mature like fine wine. :-)
Here is mine!! My camera doesn't do the color justice. She is really more pink that peach. The weather here has been very werid for this time of year, low 50's during the night and 80's during the day. I guess that has a lot to do with her coloring.
But I still have lots to look forward to because she is has lots more to come!!
Beautiful! How long did it take for her to bloom?
I don't know what to say about Daydreams. I'm having the same experience. Can you/someone recommend favorite easy-blooming dark pinks with well separated skirts? (I'm also getting tired of "filled" blooms being called doubles -- European growers make a distinction, and I think we need to recognize the difference, too.)
oh great. My day dreams is about two inches tall and i am already impatient .uh oh.
A.
Many people think i am crazy when I tell them i don't need many doubles. give me beautifully formed singles that give me those big flushes several times a year. I have at least 17 doubles, they are beautiful but I will have far less blooms on them then on my singles.
I will add, after they get to their peak of maturity they will give you better shows. I have a 4 year old golden lady who is just wonderful, blooms all summer and perfect blossoms every time. Temperature as well as maturity can play a big part in how they bloom.
I find New Orleans Lady also has wonderful perfect blooms right from the start and I have never had a deformed bloom on her. I personally do not care for the doubles with separated or consistant stuffed skirts.
If you are looking for a beautiful brug with great color and wonderful form try Painted Lady, she can't be beat. At least in my eyes, I love that brug. Check out this new one from Delisa Harvey, it is called Fleming Island Mentor, I was lucky enough to get to trial it.
This message was edited May 31, 2008 10:37 PM
I like them all, but I'm thrilled with several. Some have bloomed early, some have made me wait way too long ..... but they've been worth it in the end. LOL .... Now would someone remind me of this when I'm watering them all the time in the long hot summer and getting hardly a bloom all summer long.
Alas, my Painted Lady was new last summer and didn't make it through the winter, but many have told me she's stunning.
RagLady, I sure wouldn't mind trying Fleming Island Mentor! Is that an offer? ; )
hi silk
Congrats on your Brug success!!
I can really relate to your feelings of being surrounded by sophisticates. I garden,as well as everything else i do,by "ear". If only someone would tell us a good book to begin with,or update us on this whole cross pollination hybridization deal,I'm sure i could do that by ear too. Can anyone of you kind BrugMasters speed us up to date out there ? Where do we begin?
:-)
Until then,i guess I'm still a lesser brugswoman, just a plain old zone nine wishing she was a 10 :-(
A
Monika Gottschalk and Dr. Alistair Hay are working on a book about Brugmansia. I don't know when the release date is ...... but I'm looking forward to it!
I had to learn things the hard way. Do it wrong, pay the price, then start over again with a reminder to myself not to do that thing again. Good things these plants are fairly tough.
Mary
Hi Mary
Thanks for the book idea. How do you get started with hybridization? Is it the next natural progression in being a brug lover? It never occurred to me to make a new flower, i have no need to. I just have an uncanny addiction to owning them all. Better Brugs than jewelery?
as for doing things wrong, I'm already good at that!
Anne
Silknol, i will gladly share once she is ready. It will be a few weeks before I will be able to get a cutting. I live way up north. My brugs have only been outside for a short time. Remind me please.
That's a very kind offer, RagLady. We can stay in touch about it.