You now have the brug bug. Only one of mine has flowered this year but the buds are coming. Not sure how long it will take to open but they are wonderful. Will have some to share this fall so hope your at Kaye's Judy

Congrats, Millie! Beerhog has seen blooms on his but mine are still to be seen. A lot depends on the "Y" forming and where the cutting was taken. So, I'd say you had one of the cuttings with a Y already there to see blooms this early. Usually, mine will bloom late fall and sometimes get hit with a frost that does them in. Doesn't take a hard freeze..just a frost. I do leave some of mine in the ground and they have come back with some protection. I'll keep some in the greenhouse, too, and BH keeps cuttings in buckets in the house as a backup to the plants left out. I planted the variegated one this spring but will be digging that one to bring into the greenhouse. They are heavy feeders so give them all the fertilizer you want..and plenty of water!

Kaye, I don't think this was a cutting... it looked like a stump that had grown last year and been dug up. Old stem was larger than a rake handle. It made two new stems and now I have a fork in one of them. I will give it more fertilizer...maybe some Osmocote type this time. In this heat, it should give lots of zing. I left a moat around it to hold water. Our garden has been kept up with lots of organics, rabbit poop, etc. over the years, so it is living pretty good.

Redhotflowermama, (that's a mouth full) I won't be able to make Saturday meets, but that's fine...others need to get a chance to see all those roses. Bet they will be really something in the fall.

If it was one of mine, it would have been cut off and buried in it's pot for the winter. I don't remember what Beerhog brought. By cutting, I meant he cuts whoppers and roots them in buckets of water over winter. Maybe he'll remember what you got. He can also tell you what color they are by the leaves. He's good! Oh, and the color you first see on the blooms is not neccessarily the color the bloom will be..they change.

Kaye, this may be one of yours, then. It had been in the pot long enough to burst the pot sides..it was trying to eat that pot. LOL I decided that thing looked dangerous, so I put it out in the garden where we could get at it with a chain saw if need be. LOL I gave it a big shot of Expert slow release fert this morning...a little cultivation to mix it in and another big dose of water. We just had and inch of rain, so it has never been allowed to get dry...never seen any sign of wilting. Ray is growing a buckwheat green manure crop on the garden, so it is nearly swamped in that stuff, but it's easy to pull out around it.

I remember reading his post on how he roots them over winter and then plants them back out by the old "stump." I need to ask him if he thinks an ice house that never freezes would keep it alive. There would be no light, but without leaves I'm not sure that it matters. I remember my grandmother used to store her Poinsettia in a dug cellar. Other than that it would have to be a utility room that may not be cool enough. Rats! I really don't need another plant obsession.

As long as they do not freeze, they should be fine. I just cut mine at ground level and put them in a five gallon bucket with about 3 inches of water in it. Just check the water level every once in a while. They will be bare sticks with roots by spring.
Beerhog

I have never grown them before...never even seen one first hand. Are there a variety of sizes? Are most in the 3 to 4 foot range? Seems like I have seen pictures of some really tall ones.

O K- I admit it--i have no idea what a "brug" is ! will somebody enlighten me? is it perhaps something i've always called by another name, or is it something new??

Brugmansia..aka "Angel's Trumpet. A type of datura that has flowers that hang down..very fragrant in the evenings.

Millie, most get really big, given good food and water. The ones in the ground get 7-8' for me..can't remember what BH's grow to. In pots, they can still get 6-7'. We have to whack them back to get them in the greenhouse. My variegated "Sunset" tends to be bushier and not as tall.

Oh! Oh! I am in trouble. ;O) Sounds like it would be best planted as a specimen out in the middle of the yard somewhere. Then if I were to grow it as BH does, the flower bed could just increase in size each year...think I could sneak up on Ray with that one? LOL If I ask he will say no, so maybe I had better just get my handy little mini tiller out next spring and act like I know what I am doing.

Being from Missouri, I will probably wait to see what everyone is all excited about.

Millie when i cut them back this fall could send some starts. Judy

Thanks, Judy...I'll be happy to try some more...just take it easy on me while I learn how. LOL

How do most people grow them...in ground, or in containers? If they get that big it would be a major digging job to get it back into a pot for overwintering. I have been reading and noted that some are growing them in a buried pot. They block off any drain holes in the bottom of the pot and make new ones on the side of the bottom edge. They say it is easier to use a shovel to cut through the roots that escape out into the soil in order to bring them in for winter. Anyone try that? I think I can see why beerhog just cuts them off and plops them in a bucket with water.

Thats why I didnt know what they were! I've never been able to dis-associate the Datura in the catalogs from the Datura that comes up in my garden every time i put cow manure on.And-it just plain stinks!!plus putting on a type of burr. But--if these are that beautiful, i may try them--are they still poisionous? think my dogs are too smart to chew on a plant, but i never know. Should I try?

Yep, every part of the brug is poisonous..but nothing should want to chew on anything that tastes that nasty. Well, except for some kind of insect..they love the leaves!

Mille, if we grow them in the ground and dig them up to take in, we prune the roots to fit back into a pot..we do the same with the tropical hibiscus, too.

Millie, take a chance and just leave the roots in the ground and mulch. Take the top part in your ice house and try it both ways. If they do not make it, there will be plenty around here for you try something different next year. Try the easy way first.
Beerhog

Oh! Oh! Here's my chance to enable. LOL Ceresone, the link will take you to the Brug forum with all kinds of pictures and information. To find it again, go to Tropicals and the link to Brugmansia is at the top of the Tropicals page. Have fun...the picture on the first page of the "Brug" forum should cause all sorts of trouble for you. Hope you have more resistance than I. :O) You are probably encountering Jimson Weed in your garden...that one isn't very nice. Some years ago we had a young man decide he could swim the James River, when it was in flood, after "using" some Jimson Weed...he didn't make it.

Beerhog, I had already decided to do mine as you said. I was just curious about all the work others were going to with them, but they were mostly in colder zones.

If I understand correctly, it can have the lower leaves removed, now that it has forked, to make it canopy out so the blooms will hang nicely. Does anyone else do that? I believe I like that look best. Or do you make that decision based on the individual plants growth habit?

Kaye, that must be why it appeared to be so out of proportion to the pot...it had been crammed into that pot for the winter, but I think it was trying to escape when I got it. LOL I was trying to imagine that sized plant (indicated by trunk size) growing in it the year before. Interesting plant!

I have a feeling there is a conspiracy to not give me a clue what this Brug may be...would you'all do that to me?

Here is a link that might be useful: Brugmansia forum

Don't laugh, but I went out to take the leaves off the lower trunks to turn it into a "tree" and found a bud that I had missed mixed in among all the foliage. It is in the process of opening. It appears to be yellow at this stage, but I know they change, so I am still waiting to solve this mystery. The other trunk that it made off the old stump has also forked and I noted one tiny little bud at the fork on it. Now that I know what to look for, I can see several buds on it. DH mowed down the buckwheat, so now the soil is exposed to the drying sunlight and winds. I decided it was time for a wheel barrow of wood chip mulch. So it has had it's excess leaves removed, fed, watered well, and mulched. It is a little over 4' tall at this point.

It may be my imagination, but I think it looks much happier. ;O)

I found some buds yesterday on one of my white ones..

Yep, if that brug was "crammed" in a pot, it's one of mine. Should have been a marker somewhere in that mess telling what color. I got hooked on these plants several years ago and they do take some patience and finding their "happy" spot. When you come, we can get you a start of the variegated one and any of the others you want.

There was a marker that said "yellow." Can't remember what else was on it, now. Beerhog thought it might have been a re-used tag and I was reading the wrong side. So far it is yellow, but not all the way open, yet. What is variegated, the leaves or the bloom? You can tell I really know my Brugs. ;O)

This one seems "happy" in the veggie garden where it will get me in all kinds of trouble. I'm surprised after reading all the stuff about too much sun. It is in full sun all day long. I do think the buckwheat may have helped by shading the soil and lower portion of the stems. Buckwheat grows hip high for us in this garden.

I have them in full sun. They will wilt in the heat but bounce right back after the sun goes over. If it is yellow then it is probably 'Charles Grimaldi '.

That looks like the one. Mine is looking just a bit lighter in color this evening, but was a nice soft clear yellow earlier in the day. Right now it looks as though the veins are a bit darker. Another bloom is showing color. Did I read somewhere that they can vary just a bit in color because of differences in soil?

If I wanted a shorter one, is it true that I could take a cutting above a "Y" and it would tend to Y and bloom while shorter? I was thinking of keeping one in a large container. I guess eventually it would get tall anyway...just bushier??

If you take a cutting above the "Y", it will bloom while short. It will put up shoots from the roots that will grow full size though.
Beerhog

OK, thanks for the info. Guess it's hard to keep them down.