Hello and welcome Doodlevw.
Congrads on the Brug. post pics for us. Does it have a name?
If you haven't found it already there is another website

http://www.worldofbrugmansia.com/forum/index.php

There are many knowledagable members, most are here too. Just for the asking you will get tons of advice.
princealbert

Welcome Doodlevw :0) This is the palce to get all the answers you need on your brugs and with the great group of people we have here I am sure one of the experts will chime in with an answer for ya.

Rigo

As soon as I can I will post a picture. I really do think that it is a golden, but who knows.

You have a couple of choices on overwintering. You can let it go dormant in a cool fairly dark place like the garage if its above freezing or put in a grow light and let it keep growing and blooming all winter. I kept mine in the garage with a regular shop light fixture with grow light bulbs the first winter and it did great. Last year I just used florescent light bulbs and they didn't do nearly as well. If you try to keep it in the house growing you will have to stay on top of bugs since they tend to get spider mites over winter. I try to keep my leaves stripped off so they don't have so much temptation and they will still flower. I only leave the smallest leaves. On the variegated one its best to leave growing not go dormant. You can put it in a bright window. Just don't overwater it. If you want to trim them at winter time to shape them up make sure and leave a couple Y branches for the next blooms. You can also take long cutting and put them in buckets of water to hold over winter and have a head start on new plants next year. If you are zone 7 you might be able to plant them in the ground and mulch well and they will make new stalks from the roots. I hope that helped some. If you have any specific questions ask away and we will answer the best we can. Welcome to the forum.

I keep mine in an unheated garage as well, I do put them in the corner away from the door and then my family gets the lecture not to leave the door up and use the front door as much as possible. It does get below freezing in my garage but not for long periods. I have done this the last 2 years and they have been fine.

Mary

I am in Zone 5 and for sure no chance of leaving them outside. I have been reading several different ways to winter them, cutting back to the dirt, removing them from their normal pots, removing leaves etc. Should I cut all the way back? Cut some? Or just not cut at all and just trim them up and remove the leaves? In your opinions, which is the best way? Thanks!

Welcome doodlevw!
I usually cut mine back just to the y that way they will
bloom faster the next year,I also plant mine in the ground
in the summer and pot them back up to take in for the
winter, Im in zone 6 and keep some under lights and some
I just put in the corner of a room.
Karen

Welcome to our forum doodlevw

Kristy already gave you good advice. I can only add that it also depends if you got lots of room to store them over the winter? The less you cut them back...the faster they will bloom the following season.

Never cut them to much down to the soil. In case the freezing temps or what have you will get to them and the stems start rotting...you then will have no choice anyways to cut it way down.

What I learned from my first winter this year is, do not let them freeze!. Way to many of mine I had to cut down to almost nothing and hoping for a comeback now. Along with that I lost all cuttings . NO FROST!! In my zone I left a lot out in the ground and they are coming back great. Except for a few.

Well doolevw we are going to get along real well...for I love to blabber on also roflmao

Lucy

P.S. Just a friendly reminder....this group LOVE PICTURES :-)

Welcome doodlevw!!...And after you cut them down in the fall, you can trade those cuttings for other brugs :)

There will be LOTS of cutting trading going on in the fall!!!

Again welcome!!

knotz

Welcome! The good news is since you're zone 5 (like me), you don't have to worry about what to do in the fall for a few months. You have plenty of time to research & decide what's best for you. There are many ways to keep them over the winter & I think someone here has tried all of them. Dormant is easier for me but I do keep Snowbank awake & I have a bunch of cuttings rooting all winter (that's when we do most of our trading). You'll have fertilizer & bugs to deal with way before winter. LOL

Linda

No advice here since I live in zone 10, but lots of members with colder zones have already given you very good advice. Just wanted to welcome you to this group, doodlevw, and hope you stay a while! Wishing you lots of beautiful brug blooms.

My neighborhood calls me the "Crazy Plant Lady" and make fun of me for having monkeys in my house lost. Last night I was standing in my back yard just planning ahead for next season since I think I am to late to start this season with new ones. Maybe not.....Hmmm, anyway I was thinking about trying to winter one outside to just see what would happen to it. Cutting it down to almost ground level, covering it with straw, possibly even wrapping it, covering it with a tarp and then maybe more straw. Geez, I am crazy. I went last night to take pictures and my camera was completely dead. I have one on my cell phone, but I don't think it looks that great.

I've tried this a couple times now, but here goes #3. Pic isn't very good, it was taken at night on my porch. I have more blooms now than what is on it here.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:489377}}

It's not too late. Mine are just waking up & being moved outside. Even if you don't get a lot of flowers this year, you will have a bigger plant to start out next year with.

Linda

Today I received my second plant, its a pink. I went home at lunch, planted it in a pot, watered it and put it in the sun. Hopefully when I get home its a little perkier.

doodlevw your first one is a nicely shaped brug. Congrats on your second one.

Whenever I get new plants, I always place them in the shade for a few days so they do not have to take their strength of surviving because of the sun on top of the shipping stress.

Hope it perked up :-) and we get to see more pics

Lucy

Don't put it in full sun right away or you will cook it. They need to gradually get used to the sun.

Linda

I put it in a place where it would get about 2 hours of sun and the temps here yesterday were wonderful. Last night it was perking up a little bit and I placed it in the house under a grow light and this morning it was very happy.