cherrykist, there is a lot of difference from growing in the ground verses in the controled pot method. While in the ground you have to know your soils and water table and what will work when growing them there. All soils are not created equally and amending it is the key to growing happy Brugmansia in the soil. You also have to be careful not to contaminating the soil with the viruses we are seeing as that too will kill plants down the road. After growing brugmansia in the ground for 3 years I too have gone back to growing them in pots but that was due to the density and higher ground water table. Brugmansia hate to be kept really wet and to see them drown is not a sight I want to see again. We have gone to the pot in the pot method and it's working great here!!

"Different strokes for different folks" as the saying goes.I have to smile reading the above two posts because I have gone to growing all mine in the ground now and that only gets to be from June 1 to Sept 30th in my zone.

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I must ask (for the learning process sake) What is the purpose of two pots? Is it to be able to move the pots in the winter easier?

I'm so glad to see someone else with multi-stem plants (new to this, didn't know better). I just let mine go when they (2) came up. One in a very, very large pot, the other pot smaller. I have y's but no blooms yet. The one in a smaller pot takes way too much water. but I wanted to see the differeces of doing the two , two different ways. Buds, I think, are forming on both, and I can't wait. This is the first year I've had a Brug. and I don't even know what color it is. How exciting as a gardener. I'll try cutting the side stems back next year. I have had my two since Sept of last year and did winter it over in my garage with great success, much to my surprise. When it came up I just cut back the old stem and let it grow.

agrowingpassion, yes for the reason to take them in in the fall and one doesn't have to bump them up all season. RA, I just wish I could plant them in the ground but with the high water table, I'd drown them all.

KHT, What about building some raised beds for them?

I have grown them here in NC zone7a in the ground and in pots. In the ground, they tend to be slower to come up in the spring than the ones in pots. They also need watering less than those in the pots. I have also has some issues with them rotting in the ground over the winter and not returning the next year--this even with mulching them well. What I found that works best for having them survive over the winter in the ground is to mulch them well after cutting them back and inverting a large pot filled with leaves over the area where they are planted.

In pots, brugs seem to bloom sooner than the ones in the ground (probably because their roots can heat up faster due to the sun exposure to the pot), need to be watered once if not twice during the hot parts of the summer (like right now), and they have to be brought inside over the winter to survive. Since I tend to use the largest pots available, bringing them in can be quite a chore--tip, roll and spin all the way from their potted locations into the garage.

ruthann---Do you fertilize yours much when they're in the ground?
Duane

ruthann, wow !!! You sure have some giantic brugs. What do you do in fall? Do you just take cuttings for over winter? Also your plants are huge, but I don' see a whole lot of bloom, are there?

marymac

Ruth Ann has amazing blooms in her garden. The plants are huge, and the flowers are prolific. I've been there and seen them. She has the magic touch, and an idealic site in which to grow her forests of brugs. Mine never have reached the height that hers does. I am always so impressed with her plants.

I find it much easier to grow them in the ground but I can't winter them over outside in my zone. I have more in containers then the yard and spend way too much time watering during the hottest part of the year. The inground brugs send out deep enough roots that I don't need to water them more then once a week, even during the drought we've had. My container brugs need to be watered a minimum of once a day. My container plants will top 10' as long as the pots are large enough and the inground plants grow like crazy. I'm not going to bother lifting the inground brugs at the end of the season, I'll just take cuttings.
Karyn

Yes they bloom for me.
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I do not do cuttings for winter, I chop ( all 40 or so) them down to 10", pot them in 2-5 gallon pots and haul them all into a winter house to sleep for the winter,
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then haul them all back out in June and replant them again.
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I put mushroom compost and granular fertilizer in the holes when I plant them and maybe once a month feed them 20-20-20.
Those particular 'Tall ones' were seedlings , never cut back in fall of 2005 so grew reallt tall in 2006. They were cut back in fall of 2006.... those are the stumps you see in the above pic and this year are flowering at a much shorter height of about 5 feet.

Cherry:

I'm trying Brugs in Illinois, now.

Something else someone mentioned  and IÂm annoyed with myself. The color of the pot above ground makes a difference, too.

I outsmarted myself. I bought large green plastic pots, 10+ gallon - so when I sunk them in the ground next year, they would semi blend in with the lawn. Only a green lip or edge showing.

Right now, theyÂre above ground  and I have to tell you, those pots on the leading edge of the sun track get really warm. The green just sucks up the heat. (grr) IÂve taken to making sure I hit the pot on the outside with some water on our 90+ days here. My hope is that when I put them in the ground, this issue will go away. Some of the pots are too large to "double" pot. Some of the smaller ones, IÂm going to try another suggestion I saw here  double pot above ground. One pot inside a larger pot  fill the gap with something that will hold moisture (not for the plant) and allow the interior pot to remain cooler. That way, at 87+ - the roots wonÂt get baked.

I was looking for someone who had tried this  IÂm going to give it a shot.

Good luck!

Ruth Ann, wonderful pictures and explanation, Thank you.

Can you tell me. in order to get the really tall ones, from seed or root stock, should I plant as a two year endevour? I assume you meant you brought the seedling plants in. Did you allow them to go dormant, or grow throughout the winter?

Do you think that I can start some seedlings in the winter and plant out in spring to get tall plants?

Q-"Do you think that I can start some seedlings in the winter and plant out in spring to get tall plants?"....
A-yes, if you have fertile ground most likely you can.

Yes, I did bring them in and I keep them in a cool storage shed at about 50F and with next to no light, watered about once a month over the winter. The winter sun is too weak in my zone to try and keep them growing in the winter and not have spindly growth and also they get pests like aphids, white fly and spider mites on me.
Less winter growth also means less time needed to harden them off once again when I bring them out in the spring.