Lucky. Mine have hardly flowered at all this year and I'm doing the same thing I do every year. All the other tropicals have loved this weather.

Larry

I think I did not cut mine back properly before putting them in the basement. They have only had three blooms up to this point. One is Charles Grimaldi from Gardengramma at 06 swap and the other one a yellow from a cutting at same swap. Steve in Baltimore County.

Mine came on late this season. I also had the varieties that normally bloom late in the season (doubles and variegated varieties) blooming first and the ones that are normally early flowering were late. It's just been a very strange year for my plants in general. For the most part my tropical and sub-tropical plants have not bloomed as well as they usually do. I think it's because they weren't put outside until almost a month later then normal due to our cold spring. Too bad you won't be around to see the nice flush. There's always next year. BTW did you ever make it down to the seller you mentioned near the beach? I always ended up driving to or from the beach at night this summer so I didn't get to go : (
Karyn

Early flushes were light here this year - maybe a dozen blooms per plant. But yes, the next flush is going to be dazzling. Just noticed a Charles Grimaldi last night that must have 40 buds on it. Not quite in Oscar's league :)

Will the ginger ever bloom? One bud so far.

Karyn, I will not be in OC until October but have every every intention of stopping and getting info on that nursery.

Cynthia, so little is in Mr Oscars league.

YYYYYYYYYYAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I thought I lost my brugmansia this year so ordered a couple from Karchesky, they are doing beautifully and just y'd in the past few weeks, I'm not holding my breath tho. On the bright side, I kept watering the dead one and was finally rewarded with growth! The original wood is dead but it sprouted a new plant for me, no Y but at least I have what was my first brug!

I got a little carried away with my brugs last fall. Instead of just dragging them into the basement I had to buy one of those fancy garden wagons I had been lusting for but had no excuse. And no I did not buy the $54 one. I shot the works on the $96 job. Nothings too good for Mr. Oscar right? Then when no early bloom I wondered for just a moment if I was really worth it and of course the answer was yes. Any way I am going to have 2 brugs to give away because I won't be able to care for them next year. Long vacation. Steve in Baltimore County.

Karyn, I got a tiny brug from you, I think, at the Spring swap. It's grown pretty big, but no blooms/buds. It's got a Y. Maybe it doesn't bloom first year? How big does it have to be before it blooms?
Thanks,
Deepti

Dgs9r, I'm not Karyn but will answer your question. Size doesn't matter! The stem needs to form a 'y' and the blooms will come from those branches. They will bloom first year but need lots of sun, lots of water, lots of fertilizer. Keep watching and you will probably see buds soon.

Oscar, I stood there like an idiot this morning counting buds on the largest (most y'd???) Brug, which is a CG. OVER 100 buds, I couldn't believe it. But all at different stages so looks like 3 flushes there and it won't be bloom-city all at once here.

My light pink unnamed is finishing up it's third flush, the white one has continuous blooms most of the summer (it's old and needs repotting), but it's the CGs that I live for. The scent is unbelievable. For the CGs I don't carry over the parent. Just take a bunch of big stem cuttings and stick them in watering cans in the GH for the winter. Even with the biggest pots (3 feet) they get rootbound after one season if left in pots. But that reminds me that root cuttings work too. And those can be left fairly dry in peat moss for the winter in a dark cool place.

I have some serious bud envy here......

My brugs had a sub-par summer, too. The ones in the sun really struggled in the heat (and weren't helped by my not repotting them), but are coming on like gangbusters now that the nights are a bit cooler. The ones in half-shade did better in the dog days, but don't seem to be rebounding as nicely now.

If any one would like a Charles Grimaldi, I have an extra one that's about 3 ft tall and has a good number of buds, free to good home (although I do want to keep the pot it's in). Great plant--just feed and water liberally and it'll bloom till frost.

I'm in Hyattsville, about 2 miles from Univ. of MD. Email is sfmiller AT umd DOT edu .

If we don't have an early frost I should have some great flushes. I've counted well over 50 buds with more developing on several of my brugs and many others have a decent number of buds. It figures that they'd peak just about the same time it's time to take them in for the winter : (

Deepti you can also tell when Y has developed by looking at the base of the leaf. Once a Y has formed the base will be unequal. Normally the wide part of the leaf comes together evenly at the leaf stem. The foliage after a Y is at least a quarter inch lower on one side of the base of the leaf.
Karyn

Night photo - after all who has time to look at their gardens during the day. Mostly buds at this point...but still a happy thing :)

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Mine did very well this year. Many flushes, but they were all pretty mature (3 years or better). Water every day for those in pots and every other one for those in the ground. And fetilize with tree fertilizer sticks and occasional foilage fertilization after a flush. I got a white double and two others and they were rooted hard wood when I got them (expensive)and they are just now beginning to bloom but 3 or 4 at a time, no great big flushes but beautiful blooms. Next year, I'll put everything in the ground, otherwise in this hot and dry weather you kill yourself watering. I love them though, and they'll have flush after flush for the rest of the season.

Beautiful brug gardengranma. I only had a few with big flushes early in the season, most had only a few blooms. I have several loaded with buds almost ready to open and a number of varieties getting their first blooms. I can't wait to see what I end up with from some crosses I did 2 years ago. They usually end up single white but I've had a couple that were colors and/or doubles. I agree it's easier growing them inground but too much trouble to dig up. I haven't had any luck wintering them over in the ground here. I have about 10 in the yard that I'll just take cuttings from and my container brugs will go in the unheated GH or garage. Maybe we'll have a really mild winter. If last Feb hadn't been so damn cold some might have made it.
Karyn

I don't think they'll overwinter in the ground. I tried planting pots with holes in the sides and some wonderful person planted most of them in the ground at the spring swap. When I dig these up, I'll see how many roots actually grew out the holes. Other's remained in the pots, but were not repotted. That makes them very dry in this heat. Right now I have a beautiful pink flush, even better than Charles Grimaldi. My Herrenhauser Garten had one bud but got dry -- so no luck there yet. We'll see what next year brings. Last year, I only liked my CG (they were the oldest too) and the pink were diappointing. This year the pinks have caught up, even the white ones are doing better. The double has bloomed, but not profusely yet. So we'll see what happens next year. But I am encouraged that with enough water and fertilizer and cool roots they are all fabulous. The ones in the pots in full sun are beginning to do ok, but were awful during the summer. The ones that had 1/2 day or so sun did much better, and I think that was the combinating of a cold spring and a very hot summer plus the drought, as others have mentioned. Sorry that i'll miss the fall swap, I think. Anyway, if anyone wants cuttings now or later, I will have good above the "Y" hardwood cuttings, and they do best.

Ah, the brugs are in their full glory this week-end and loving this weather.

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Mine look just like the photos, flush after flush, they love hot dry days and cool nights. My Charles Grimaldi's are still my favorites, though Dr. Seuss seems to smell good too. I can't wait till frosty pink, Dr. Seuss, and my double pinks and whites get to be about three years old (like the Charles Grimaldi's), they will be heavenly. The pink versi colors did great too, but my wonderful helper planted them (under my directions) too close, and I have a brugmansia forest. Next year, I'll spread then further apart, and all in the ground. They don't mind being dug up and replanted, they are just like Bonsai trees, as long as you fertilize and water, water, water. They are about the only thing that is blooming now, except my roses (they are coming back nicely,) my butterfly bushes, some yellow tall thing, and my blue salvia, plus the usual annuals that reseed. Even the crape myrtles didn't like the hot and dry summer, and that's a first.

I have about 60 brugs and this year was the worst in a long time for flowers. They were very late coming on and many had very few blooms per flush. Even my CG which is usually my most prolific brug didn't bloom until late in the season. The cooler temps have made them happy and they are at peak now but I have an unusually high number of deformed blooms. BTW ywo of my crosses actually produced a very pretty light pink bloom, so much nicer then the white that I often end up with. Cynthia your garden is just beautiful.
Karyn

My Brug has been blooming for about two weeks I think. It is spectacular! The blooms start out yellow, with a salmon edge, and then the whole bloom opens up and becomes salmony. The size of the blooms and the color is AMAZING! Even my husband, the total non-gardener, was moved to comment on their beauty!

Karyn -- thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I do have some questions. Next year, I'd like to grow it in the ground; I think it would grow quicker, and much larger. Maybe it might take a little less watering too?

Is there any advantage to digging it out of the ground to store it for the winter -- as opposed to taking a cutting and letting the mother plant stay in the ground and take its chances with the cold?

This year it's in a pot. Should I take a cutting for next year, or cut it back and store it in the pot? What's the advantage of one over the other?

When are you all going to take cuttings, or cut back, or dig them up?

Thanks so much!
Deepti

I'm glad that it finally bloomed for you. They are great plants and so easy to grow. They are much easier to care for inground, at least for me. Not nearly as much watering. I've had to water my potted brugs sometimes 2x/day and the ones inground maybe 2x/wk at the most, even in the drought. I seriously doubt that the roots will survive the winter inground. I've never had any luck even planting them in a protected area and mulching well. What you might want to do is sink the pot inground next spring and lift it in the fall. I seal the bottom drainage holes and cut new holes on the sides of the pot before sinking them. That way you can just slice off the roots that have grown outside the pot with a spade when you lift it in the fall. If you want to make more plants you can cut it back this year or just allow it to go dormant as is. I usually cut my plants back to about 10-12" because of space though I don't cut my doubles back and I keep my variegated brugs growing throughout the winter. I'll probably start cutting my brugs back in about 2 weeks.
Karyn

Karyn,
If you sink the pot in ground, even with side holes, does the plant get much bigger by season's end than if it was started from a cutting?

Of course, the advantage is that you start the season with a mature plant.

What size pot do you sink in the ground, and then dig back up to store in the garage? Do you have to increase pot size the second year?

How large are the side holes?

Sorry for so many questions, and thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Deepti

Actually, you don't have to carry the plant over at all. Most of my brugs are from cuttings taken in fall. I just cut the plants down and put cuttings in a watering can or old cat litter pails for the winter with 4 to 6 inches of water. Then dig them into the pots in spring. If you don't have a gh or sun porch to put the watering can in, take root cuttings and put them in a paper bag with slightly damp peat for the winter and store in cool spot (attic or cellar). Then pot them up in spring.

Cynthia and Karyn,
I just found the brug forum and read about the Brugs-in-bucket system. what an amazing forum!

Cynthia, why do you need to put the cuttings in a sunny area? According to the B-o-B method, they don't really need light to go through the winter; they just need to form roots?
thanks again
deepti

I find that plants that are two or better yet, three years old, do much better re blooming than brand new plants from cuttings (even if the cuttings are from more mature, woodsy plants.) I also find that I have problems with bugs late in the season if I do the bucket thing. So I repot and haul them in before frost and out again in the spring. I will experiment with cuttings later in the winter, but only after I use a systemic spray and 6 weeks away from putting them again outside. I guess I'll need a really good mask so I don't inhale the spray (this is your all organic gardener except for brugs).

My older brugs do bloom better even though I cut them way back in the fall. I get many more blooms per flush on mature plants but I still get blooms on most that have been grown from cuttings. I get caterpillars eating my brugs this time of year but not early in the season. I don't mind sharing and I remove the foliage from the cuttings before rooting them anyway. I keep cuttings in buckets of water with an air stone all through the winter and pot them in the spring. The reason for planting them in the ground is that I don't have to water them as much. I had to water my container plants sometimes 2x/day during the summer and they are in 30 gallon pots. I'm still having to water them daily. The inground plants got watered once a week at the most even though we haven't had any rain to speak of. Most of the plants that were sunk inground were in 15"-20" pots. I planted a number directly inground this year and am not going to bother digging them up. I'll just take cuttings from the ones I like. I've tried wintering them over inground with a heavy mulch but never had any luck. I'm going to severely prune the roots of all my big brugs before I bring them in. They've outgrown the 30 gallon pots and I can't go any bigger. Supposedly they do well with having more then half their roots cut away. I guess I'll find out soon enough. lol
Karyn

I thinbk you can cut them back very severly (the roots thatis) and the tops and have a great plant the following year. I tried putting them in pots with holes, and found they did not send that many roots out, and it wasn't worth the trouble. next year they go in the ground with good soil, and lots of fertilizer and water (with good drainage, and with some shade from the afternoon sun. The ones I put into big pots in full sun, do not do as well, it just idn't worth the effort. I think the roots get too hot, and the plant says, no thank you. I just potted most of the up, the rest I'll do on Saturday, then I'll spray them with systemic insecticide (yes, in my greenhouse they do get mites or whatever and the leaves shrivel. Then every six weeks they get a dose of granular systemic, and come spring they go to the front porch and then into the ground. That way I can just put the sprinkler on and don't need to water them twice a day or even every day. I experimented this year with all possibilities, and that looks best to me.