Hi everyone! I am new to Brugs but very experienced in gardening, both in containers and in-ground.

I recently acquired a rather large NOID pink Brug fresh off the truck from Florida. It is trained as a standard with a single stem about 3-1/2 feet tall which then Y-branches into 2 stems, each about 18-inches long. The trunk is probably about 1-1/2" in diameter at soil level, and about 3/4" at the Y-branch.

This Brug originally arrived in a 14-inch grow pot, but last week I moved it into a tall, 20-inch terra cotta pot (the inside of which I had sealed with 3 coats of polyurethane). The plant was staked with a stout 4-foot tall bamboo stake, which was moved into the new pot with the soil ball. The Brug's stem is tied to the stake with green stretchy-tape in 4 places, with the top tie right on the Y-branch.

I have a couple of questions to which I have not been able to find answers here (or anywhere on the web, for that matter):

1. The Brug is on our back deck on the southeast side of our house. Although it gets some protection from wind there, we can still get pretty extreme wind gusts during thunderstorms and when strong fronts move though. Should the stake be positioned so it is on the side facing the prevailing wind, or should it be on the side away from the wind?

My thinking is that it should be on the downwind side, so that the Y-junction is pushed hard against the stake when it blows. However, the 2 branches can then be pushed by the wind and bent around the stake on either side, and might break off more easily than if the stake is upwind. In the latter case, the Y-junction and both branches will be held against the stake only by the stretchy-tape.

Does anyone have any ideas or experience about where to position the stake?

2. Both the branches are growing like crazy and are putting out new shoots and flower buds about every 2 inches. Does anyone have any advice on how to train these shoots?

I would very much like the plant to have an umbrella-shaped canopy from which the flowers can dangle all around. I am not sure how to train the plant to take that shape. Right now, it is more two-dimensional than three.

Sorry to be so long-winded (no pun intended). I suppose these are really simple questions, but I am not sure how to proceed from here. I don't want to come out after a windstorm to find my first Brug torn apart and in tatters.

Thanks for your help. I am looking forward to reading and learning more about these beautiful plants on this forum.

PennGardener