Which are the best Brugs

I am interested in ordering or trading for a few of the best flowering and colorful brugs on the market. I have to admit I grow a few but I have not kept up with all the breeding. I would like to find a nice red to deep pink colored flower as well as just over all best brug maybe a double, flower size, with good blooming ability. It would be interesting to see what the group would suggest and possibly some photos of their favorite plants. If anyone has information on good places that may offer the varieties shown would be great. Or if anyone is interested in trade I grow a lot of plants but just a handful of brugs. Thanks

Personal favorite for now peaches and cream

Here's some of my favorites. Which varieties do best for you may depend on your particular growing area (heat, humidity, etc.). I have lived and grown brugs in several different parts of the U.S. so these are my choices due to my cumulative experiences :)

Single pinks: Miss emily Mckenzie (huge 22 inch flower, large flushes), Rubirosa (large flushes coming with multicolors as some blooms open white and turn to pink), Rosalla (prolific flowering, nice shape, I get coralish pinks here), Ila Marie (blooms constantly here).
A few more that do extremely well and are very free flowering, fragrant, easy to propagate- but are older varieties are: Painted Lady, Rosamond, and Isabella.

Best Double Orange/Peach: New Orleans Lady (One of my all-time favorites...great fragrance for a double, doesn't drop buds, propagates easily, and free flowering)

Best Double Pink: Daydreams (picked this one because it blooms more and doesn't drop buds as much as some of the other dbl pinks I have, light sweet fragrance, easy to propagate)

Best triple white (with a little yellow): Lemon Meringue (flowers and holds buds more than some of my other doubles), nice light lemony fragrance, some flowers are quadruples, most are triples.

Best single yellow: Charles Grimaldi (The "Master' of fragrance , easy to propagate, and prolific flowering)

Best single white: Super Nova which I do have and love due to large flower 17+inches, large flushes, nice fragrance and pure pristine white color. I have heard good things about Kong but I don't have it so can't compare on that one.

~Lenette

I second that suggestion of Charles Grimaldi. Everyone's favorite for reliability, health, production and fragrance.
I also love the yellow "Whiskers" because of the extra long tendrils.

All the brugs growing at my place right now are best brugs ... lol
But true :-)

Also ..
That does not look 'Peaches & Cream' to me.
More like 'Maya'.

Peaches and Cream is a versicolor and should have a bit of a neck showing below the calx:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/89280/

what does versicolor mean. I have a peach versi potted cutting but have no idea what it means to be versi.

Versicolor means changeable color or of various colors. Brugmansia versicolor is one of the Brug species. Its blooms open white then change to the cultivar's color. B. versicolor Brugs have the largest sized blooms and produce the largest number of blooms during a flush, very strong fragrances and the blooms hang straight down at maturity. The narrow part of the corolla can be seen below the calx. http://www.abads.net/Gallery/species/brugmansia_versicolor.htm

I like the deep pink of Mountain Magic

But my all-time favorite for hardiness, lots and blooms and orange-turning-yellowish is Solid Gold

I am having trouble send a picture of Solid Gold but will try one more time.

Maybe this time

Another view of same bush. I did not trim it into this shape

Oh that Solid Gold is gorgeous, really.

Thanks Veronica for the def of versicolor. Sounds like my Peach will bloom profusely and be very fragrant. Can't wait. My Cherub's bud has opened and is out about 2 1/2 inches long, but it is green. I'm assuming it will turn pink at some time.

You're welcome, Jeanne. Winter blooms are usually paler.

Betty, your Solid Gold is beauuuutiful. With that branching behavior, SG would make a fantastic hanging basket plant. Maggidew anf kenboy came up with that idea.

bwilliams, I agree with Alice that the best Brugs are the ones that grow best in one's own garden. Lenette's list would be a place to start. I'm not sure whether the tabbed pages work, bur there is a thread entitled 10 Favorite Brugs, or something similar. It is really a list of Brugs that grow well in hot humid conditions. If you can find it, and scroll down toward the bottom of the thread, I compiled all the suggestions into a list.

This list looks very promising and all the comments have been very useful. I know their has been a lot of breeding with Brugs over the years. I was hoping to find some that were considered genetically superior to most forms. From what I have heard this does not seems to be so true. Their maybe some doubles a few weak forms and a few larger flowering forms, but for the most part all of them per form about the same. This is from my own views. If their is some I am over looking please correct me.

Genetic superiority is difficult to determine when the the goals for each hybridizer may be quite different. In other cases genetic superiority wouldn't help if you can't provide the climate the species requires. Example: I'm sure someone could provide a superior strain of Brugmansia sanguinea, but its superiority wouldn't help you grow it successfully in Louisville unless you have an air conditioned greenhouse, as according to Preissel and Preissel, it refuses to bloom in temperatures over 72ºF and dies in temperatures over 85ºF. By the way, B. sanguinea carries the only red genes in the Brugmansia genus although a few European hybridizer claim to have a tomato red hybrid. What makes coming up with a list of any kind difficult is that bloom color in Brugs is greatly influenced by so many factors. There are a number of dark pinks that look great in Florida and Texas, but move those Brugs to California and you end up with pale pink blooms. You'll find the newer cultivars are more floriferous and perhaps more tolerant of heat and humidity. You can find some huge flowered cultivars, but also some really gorgeous smaller sized blooms as well — greater diversity. Because climate has such a great influence on how well a cultivar will grow in your area, you'll have to pick a few that meet the criteria you set and try growing them. Give them a few years to settle in. According to USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Maps, Louisville is in 6a - 6b. How would you overwinter your Brugs?

Most of the "inferiors" go the wayside in just a little while.
The names you see sticking around and gardeners still wanting to grow are the best brugmansias.
The reason I joked the best brugmansias grow here is because due to having so many
varieties accumulated over the years and the need for space, a lot of the so-so brugs we used to grow have gone the wayside to grow only the best now.
Alice

Gordo says versicolors do well in full afternoon sun in triple digit heat. Also Pink Beauty. I need both "partial shade" lovers and full sun lovers. I have found in my own expereince that full sun lovers of any plant don't really like the full sun all afternoon when the temps are in the high 90s and 100s. With the exception of my mandevellia vine and ferns.

So Peach Versi and Pink Beauty will get the backyard planting and the others will have to get by with morning sun and mottled afternoon sun.

Does Monster White like full sun, anyone know?