I bought this pink angel trumpet in the spring. It has grown to 4ft and is all leaves. It is one straight thick stem with new leaves coming out at the bases of the old ones. Is this normal? I can't get over all the beautiful colors I see here on this forum.
Texas from looking at the picture I don't think your plant has "Y'd" yet. All the leaves on the bottom are virtually useless and you won't get buds/flowers until the main stem of the trunk makes a noticeable Y. Any branches above that are where you get your flowers. If you want a tree type Brugmansia, you can trim off the lower branches to get the look you want.
Some Brugs make a Y at 1 ft, other plants don't until they are 4-5 feet tall. Just watch closely, and soon you will have one!
Thanks Karen. So I can expect it to "Y"? How tall do these guys get? I have forgotten. All the leaves that are on it now should probably be taken off once it Ys? I don't mean to sound stupid but my white angel trumpet "Y"d at less than one foot in the ground and in a pot and put out flowers in half the time this one has. It never has gotten 4ft tall.
Texasgrower. Brugs, in their native habitat can get almost 30' tall. I have had vegetative growth get 7' tall before producing a "Y". Each cultivar has it's own set length before it "Y"s. We can help them along by keeping them well fed and healthy, but we can't force them to produce a "Y" before they are ready. It could be that the white Brug came from above the "Y". It is evident that the one in the pot came from a side shoot below the "Y". Your two Brugs are good examples of the way a Brug grows when it comes from above or below the "Y".
Yikes! Beetydee. Thirty feet? Well thank God I'm not in their native habitiat. I do keep it well fed and it is healthy. Will it "Y" before winter or will it go into a winter's sleep.? I plan to over winter it in my greenhouse. Then I hope to find a spot for it in my yard. It should do fine in zone 8b. As you can tell, I'm new to brugs.
Texas I just know we have chatted elsewhere here, but I have CRS this evening....I remember of course because you are in Palestine and I'm in Frankston! Did I already invite you to our RU on October 11?
Anyhoo, went out in my nightie to get you a Y picture, LOL! I wouldn't do that for just anyone you know.....Once you see this you will know what to expect. No blooms until this happens on a Brug.... This one lost a few upper leaves to Ike, but I keep the bottom leaves pruned off.
BTW, guess what? In our zone, Frankston/Palestine, if you want reallly large Brugs, we can leave ours in the ground overwinter! All of mine are in the ground. They prefer morning sun, evening shade here. Just cut them off to the ground, mulch really well, and they will grow bigger every year! Aren't we lucky? You can root the cuttings to share with friends, or plant for even more Brugs! ☺
This message was edited Sep 26, 2008 8:34 PM
I would be guessing whether it will "Y" before winter or not. It depends on our first frost date which can vary from year to year. This coming winter will be my 8th here in Texas. Our earliest first frost has been somewhere near the last of October. The latest frost date was a few days before Christmas. If we have a late frost, your Brug may "Y" before winter. Depending on the winter temperature in your greenhouse, you Brug may well "Y" and bloom this winter. In zone 8b, Brugs will die down to the ground. Most will return in spring. Some Brugs are more frost sensitive than others. I would take cuttings of those in the ground before the first frost as backup. Taken early, the cuttings could be wintered as rooted cuttings or left in a bucket filled with a few inches of water and hydrogen peroxide.
In our climate, Brugs in heated greenhouses don't go dormant. The thermostat in my greenhouse is set at 45 - 47ºF mainly due to my DH. I would like to have it no colder than 50ºF because some of my plants suffer during winter. Year before last, he lowered the thermostat down to 40ºF without telling me and I lost a bunch of plants to the cold. He really doesn't know much about plants. He was trying to conserve propane. What a time to go green. Unfortunately, my plants went brown! LOL.
Oh Betty, darn those energy saving husbands!!! LOL! Not funny, but I bet you were ready to kill the dear thing! But my GOSH how high propane is here now! Last year it cost me well about $300.00 for 100 gallons...
Texas here is a picture of the same plant in the ground....
This message was edited Sep 26, 2008 8:41 PM
Darkmoon, I'm hoping for a warm winter or that thermostat is going to get a workout. I have many more plumerias this year than I did last year plus a few more tropicals. We use smaller propane tanks because my setup is supposed to be temporary. So I have no idea how much it cost to heat the greenhouse last year. I get a "real" greenhouse when we build our new house on a different spot here on the ranch. I've had that greenhouse for 4 years. I'm still waiting for my new house. We've had the blueprints for the house a while now.
Hey! Don't cut those brugs to the ground! cut them back some but wrap your main trunks and stems with a nice few layers of bubble wrap. We did it this past winter with one of my mothers brugs that was about 4 ft tall and in spring we unwraped it and had new LARGE leaves already growing under the bubble wrap. It died back exactly to the edge of the bubble wraped areas! We were pleasantly happy and shocked with our experiment. Can't hurt to try. Temps got to the high teens here once and we had snows a few times during the winter. We now have 3 more in the ground this year to try. Getting braver every year. Sure gabe that brug a huge head start this year. Glad we did or it never would have had a chance with our horrible hot dry spring. We also heavily mulched the ground around it.
Tammie
Karen, You are such a dear to take the pics for me. I feel special. :)
They help alot. Yes, I will be at the RU.
Do I remove the leaves I have now or wait until it"Y" s? This is my second attempt to grow Brugs. A friend gave me seeds from her white one. They germinated last year and I planted one in my front flower bed. It bloomed and the died over the winter. Then this July, I broke my ankle and was unable to get into that bed to keep it clean of whatever pops up that isn't wanted. So to my surprise today while I was cleaning out that bed there was a white brug, Y"d and had already bloomed two flowers. The big seed pods were there. So I will harvest those seeds. Maybe bring some to the RU if they are ready. I have roses, Lantana bushes, day lillies, zinnias, a butterfly bush and the occassional canna that pops up. I know it sounds like alot, but they really do work together and the hummers and butterflies love that bed. Anyway, I couldn't see the brug because it's only 18 inches at best in height. I have gargantuan in a pot and midget in the ground. Go figure.
Now Beetydee, for the last several winters I have kept my plants on my east facing front porch on freezing nights. I water them good. We did this in Florida to insulate the roots when the temps got below freezing. I then would cover them with sheets. I have not lost any save one geranium. I have boganvilla, petunias, begonias, ferns, cannas, roses,butterfly bush, crape myrtle, impatiens, nandina, mums,geraniums and hydrangea. I think that is all. I put them on the porch because the brick would absorb heat and keep the porch about ten degrees warmer than the actual temp. I got the greenhouse so I wouldn't have to put all those babies on my porch again. That is alot of work. Some of those plants are in the ground now. But of course now I have the brug, calibrochoas, surfinias and another boganvilla. I figure if I water them like in the past and cover them, maybe, while in the greenhouse they should be alright. I do have a small Mr. Buddy propane heater to use just in case. My greenhouse is only 6x8. Does that sound ok for the plants? I have a mandavella vine and desert rose babies and golden egg tree babies I will keep in the house.
Tammie, I will try the bubble wrap when I have a brug in the ground. Maybe I'll wrap the midget in the front flower bed. Thanks to all of you. You have been very helpful.
Bettydee, are our husbands related? There are some things I'm still waiting on too. Most of the time I do it myself if it's within my capabilities. I get tired of waiting. I was supposed to have a deck this year, promised two years ago. Is there a deck? No, but there has been plenty of discussion. Oh well, I still have my dreams.
Talk about 'Y'ing when they please! This is a seedling from last year that has just now Yed. I would guess it is about 12ft. tall maybe more. Ike took all the leaves off my plants so they are looking especially naked right now but they are starting to put out new leaves. I was hoping to see this one bloom this year... Maybe?
Heavinscent, that is unbelievable. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the pic. If you lived in the panhandle of Texas you could see that thing for miles.
We could nick-name it the "giraffe" brug! Kinda cute if you ask me. All tall and lanky like that with little sprouts of leaves.. amazing Ike did not break it.
The bubblewrap really worked great last winter around the main trunk and stems after the 'y' ... the shocking part was when I pulled the wrap off and found all the new green leaves growing already and we did not wait long ... it was just barely beginning spring.. it was just the bubble wrap kept it so happy, we still had nights we ended up covering it up later. We used the small and some of the large bubbles.. whatever we had on hand and some of the stretch plant tie stuff to tie it in place and no worries about it all winter.
Tammie
Tammie thanks for the tip on the bubble wrap! I do have one with very large trunks and I was dreading cutting it all the way down. I will try that!
Heavenscent that is one huge Brug! What type is it?
so Tammie, you started wrapping it above the Y and down the trunk to the ground? I'm trying to picture it. I'm a visual learner, heh.
I like the nick name "giraffe" brug. It certainly fits. Can you imagine wrapping that? I bet when it gets loaded up with blossoms next year it will be a sight to behold.
The cross is Painted Lady x Peanut but Gary
Yes, I started wrapping at the ground and worked my way up.. about 3 layers until I ran out of bubble wrap.. went up to the Y and did 3 branches out about 1 to 2 ft out each branch.. I just sort of went around and across the Y area.. sort of strange... but it worked... absolutely every inch survived to the tip where the bubble wrap was! I was amazed. When I unwraped in the spring it was shrivled and dried out where stems were exposed to the weather and green under the bubble wrap... LOTS of leaves were growing under it! Our temps were in the 20's a lot but mostly low 30's last winter with a couple inches of snow two times. We did dip into the teens at least once during the winter... we did not do anything else to protect the plant. It is in a courtyard area but it is open to weather and did get snowed on. This year I have been asking everyone to save any bubble wrap they have... I don't care if it looks strange if it saves my brug. The stretchy plant tie works great for securing the wrap to the plant.
I sure wish I had taken a picture.. I don't think I did. I will look through my pictures.
Tammie
Found a picture of it about 3 weeks after I took the bubble wrap off... most of the leaves were off the main trunk and inner stems.. you cant see the small leaves starting on the other stems.. I had not cut the dead off it yet.. I had cut it back in the fall but not all the way.... anyway... this picture was taken March 31, 2008 as you can tell.. it has quite a jump start over if it had been cut to the ground and where it would have been by that date... If you think about it.. the end of march is still pretty early to be growing so well! We had to take the bubble wrap off because leaves were starting to poke out wherever they could find a spot! LOL
Heavinscent, that was a wonderful idea you had. I will try it on my midget brug. Who cares what it looks like. If it saves your plant and gives it a jump start, I say give your naeighbors something to laugh at. I might even try it on "gargantuan" with or without the Y.
I just realized you CAN see where the bubble wrap stopped! On the stem to the right in the picture.. you can see the line where the green ends and the brown starts.. a perfect line where the bubble wrap ended.. I cut it off later there.. nothing grew out past that point . This year I will be putting bubble wrap much further up on the plant.
Tammie
Thanks Texas but not my idea. I think that was Tammie's ;o)
oops sorry. I get so busy reading that I forget who wrote what. So....Tammie, that was a great idea you had to wrap the brug. Heavinscent, you have the "giraffe".
Hey Texas, what color of butterfly bush do you have? hee hee, I have purple but would love a sprig of something different if you are at the Round Up. I know, I am shameless ☺ BTW, be sure and let me know if there is anything you'd like from my trade list. Do you have one?
Heavinscent ...wow you are going to need a ladder and lots of bubblewrap ...it's like jack and the beanstalk ! it grew from a magic little bean! ...an Angel bean ...looks like it's reaching for heaven! ...if you ever name it ...well what could you call it?
Star Duster?
Moonraker?
Lucy in the sky?
Moonshadows ?
Magic Carpet Ride ?
ha ha ha ...and we're climbing the stairway to heaven ...la la.
Texasgrower, my propane heater is vented. Unvented heaters are meant to be used in well ventilated areas. Using them in enclosed areas is dangerous. The buildup of carbon monoxide or dioxide can make you sick or kill you if you spend time in the enclosed area. The monoxide will also damage your plants. If the greenhouse is waterproof, a small electric heater would be better.
Tammie, I knew I'd read a post where bubblewrap was mentioned, but I didn't remember how many layers were used. Thanks for posting the information. I'll have some bubblewrap left over after I insulate the small greenhouse. I'm going to try it on Brug I have planted in the ground.
Caren, that is the tallest un-Yed Brug I've seen. I hope that you do see some blooms this year.
Karen, I have three bi-color. They start out purple and end up like a butterscotch color. Do they reseed? I have lots of seeds. I don't have a trade list. How do I get one? I'll check your list and get back to you.
Chrissy, You're not intruding. The more the merrier. Bettydee says brugs can get 30 ft in their native habitat. Heavinscent's is almost halfway there. She can bubble wrap for the winter. Can you imagine?
I forgot about the monoxide from the propane. I can try an electric heater but I will need a long extension cord and I don't think you are supposed touse extension cords with heaters. I'll check into it.
Texas you have DMail ☺
I love the names Chrissy! Giraffe is good for now lol! If it doesn't bloom before we get a frost I will cut it to a reasonable size and root the top.
I may try some bubble wrap but I had tried that last year on a few and they rotted. We have a lot of fluctuation in our winter temps here so that may have played a part. We can get down to the high 20's but a few days later we will get up in the 80's. I would think if you had temps that stayed low all winter this would work wonderful.
Tammy, did you cover the top so the rain could not get in or did you leave a vent of some kind for the moisture to escape?
I hadn't paid attention to where Tammie lives. I have the same winter problems you have, Caren. I wonder if a modified version would work — a more open wrap and removable lid to allow heat or moisture to escape out the top on hot days.
I was thinking of making a bubble wrap coat to slip over the top and losely tie at the bottom. It would be easy to take on and off so I could just put it on when I knew a frost or freeze was coming.
Betty she mentioned that the unwrapped portions froze and died so I'm assuming their might have been a little "venting" where the bubble wrap met the uncovered tree. Anxious to find out, may be a nice way to get really big Brugs!
Maybe Tammie can explain whether she wrapped individual branches as well as the trunk. There wouldn't be much venting if that's the case. I like Caren's idea of a wrap coat.
Last year I spent a fortune on Plankets at Home Depot. They were worthless — too thin and lightweight. I was thinking of cutting the Plankets down and lining the inside with bubble wrap for more insulation. I think the outside of the Planket is waterproof.
I just did a quick wrap with bubble wrap.. was not tight so there was some air circulation I guess.. had room for leaves to grow under it! you can see in the picture on that right stem where the bubble wrap ended the stem looks shriveled and smaller... browner .. that is the dead area.. I cut that back later in the spring. That dark green coming up from the ground is a stake we put in with it was a cutting. I just wraped main turnk and up some of the 3 parts that were above the Y.. not brain surgery... just wraped and tied with stretchy plant ties to keep in place and did not worry about it until spring... if it lived, I was ahead of the game.. and it beat cutting it to the ground. I just wraped until I ran out of bubble wrap. Turned out it survived beyond my wildest dreams. Don't make it difficult on yourselves.. just wrap a few layers and don't worry. I had some that was in long strips that came from u-haul.. left over from moving... auto repair places seem to have an abundance of the stuff available also if you ask for it.
Tammie
