OT, but it shows how silly the powers that be can be...
At the entrance to Geelong along the Geelong to Melbourne highway...the council decided to plant small, low growing native grasses on the median strip under the Eucalyptus already growing there...
There would have been about 2 kms......The council was applauded by everyone for planting low care, attractive ground cover...by greenies and other experts...
Not only did the grasses grow to over 4 ft tall and they had to keep slashing because the motorists couldn't see past them to turn......later on, a cigarette thrown from a car in the middle of summer, burnt out about 100yds of them....so out they all came...thousands of dollars later, there is nothing under the trees.
Dianne.
Brugmansias in August......promise of things to come.
The sun is shining and I am going to get out and do a few things as soon as the sun is shining on where I sit outside.
Yesterday, I planted 3 brugs in the ground. Today, I am moving all the others around so I can plant a few more down next to the shadehouses.
I am hoping to make more room for the primary schoolers to get up with the big boys then later the kindy kids can come out too.
I think all the little preschoolers will have to wait for a bit more warmth.
Then I have to rethink a bit so I can have a n area for my "coldies". I am hoping to get a lot more of the seeds for different " sphaeros ".
Had to use that word, it sounds important.
I am hoping to get in early to buy some of Alans ( BGI) seeds when he has them .
Does anyone here in Australia grow them , I wonder ?
Aside from we few on DG with our sangs.
I want seeds of the different sang crosses and the vulsas etc. so I can try them out here in the cold.
Jean.
Jean,it was shining here but a very cold fog has rolled in.
Which Brugs did you plant in the ground?
Sphaeros is a good word isn't it.....
Someone else does grow them, I don't know who..but last year when I asked Alan if he had any seeds left, he told me that he had just sold the last of them to another Aussie lady..
I am sure that he will save some for us this year...when we buy from him we should compare so that we have a variety of crosses....
My eyes bugged out when I saw the pics of the pods he has coming on...whoopee.
Knightii is almost in flower and Buck's Fizz is flowering from those white frosted buds.....little flowers from little buds..PP never stopped flowering and Clementine has a lot of buds too.
Dianne
You colder-climate gardeners are in for a treat with those seeds, when they become available!
Too soon here to plant out yet but I have been potting up brugs from seedling cells and cups into slightly larger containers and moving them outside into the large greenhouse. Thinking about it, I've decided not to plant my large seedlings into buckets this summer. It's such a lot of work--from buying all the buckets, drilling holes in every one (a real chore, this), then filling each with the growing medium. This year, I reckon I'll just order another load of potting mix and sugarcane, create a new no-dig patch using the sugarcane bales as a border, and plant the larger seedlings directly into it. Much less work! I mean, it's not as if I need to dig them up and store them inside for the winter, so there's no need to plant them in containers. As the sugarcane and other material in the patch rots down, I'll just top it up with more. This is one plant where collar rot is not a problem! The brugs' roots can also grow into the ground more easily and so draw more moisture that way too.
I've also found when digging out unwanted seedlings (white, of course!) that growing them in buckets does *not* make them any easier to dig out. The roots are enmeshed in the drainage holes making it if anything harder to dig them out.
I guess it's a matter of finding what works best in your circumstances and I reckon this should work better for me.
Meanwhile, it looks as if this knightii pod will be the first to mature, judging by the stem.
This message was edited Aug 14, 2011 1:49 PM
Sounds good to me, cestrum...I will pull anything out that I don't want in my Brug patch as soon as it warms up, and put in some more yearlings until they flower...mind you, I only have one to remove...I still like your Ecuador Pink x..so he stays.....
I planted my Iochroma seeds, so I hope they grow...I don't know what the parents were, just Iochromas.
Jean, you have grown them?..how quick are they to come thru...Do they come true to type or can any colour pop up? wishful thinking, I suppose.
Dianne
Mmmm yes, I'm going to start growing them like vegies in the no-dig patch :-
But with labels!
This message was edited Aug 14, 2011 4:26 PM
Yes I am doing the veggies in the no dig garden and the Brugs too ...it saves a lot of work and the results are wonderful !
Looks a little messy sometimes but I don't really mind ...it's a little expensive to set up but you save in the long run.
No dig gardens turn soil (in my case clay) into rich productive loam. :)
Just ask the Triffids
In the same no-dig patch? I hadn't thought of that! Should be possible if the vegies are low-growing. Might help to keep the area weed-free.
I don't know why I thought I had to plant brugs in individual containers (when they're large enough to go outside).
Grow the brug seedlings fast in the first spring/summer so that they're large enough to regrow from the roots if they get frosted in winter. And if they don't, well, then they're not suited to my garden ...
No I would not plant Brugs with the veggies ...but the potatoes worked very well planted into the edges of the no dig veggie patch.
The potatoes formed mostly in the hay layers beneath the veggie roots so I had the spuds growing beneath the veggies and it saved heaps of room.
Keep the Brugs in a separate bed to anything edible. {ˆ◡ˆ}
Dianne, I grew all my hybrid Iochromas from seed. They are like the brugs, anything can pop up colorwise.
I found the seeds very tiny but they grow easily. . They seem to grow at the same pace as the brugs once through.
good luck with them. I am hoping mine grow back after the savage prune I gave them.
I might end up with nice lower bushy plants instead of 'Jack and the Beanstalk ' giants.
Jean
...Keep the Brugs in a separate bed to anything edible. {ˆ◡ˆ}
Not sure what that emoticon means (shock? horror?) but is there a real risk of growing edibles among the brugs? I know you shouldn't graft edibles onto a brug, but do brugs release chemicals from their roots that are then taken up by any plants growing beside them? Or are you just being cautious?
I just would be concerned a bit of leaf litter may drop down on stuff below ... it may not matter at all, just a precaution.
I suppose tomatoes and rhubarb grow near other veggies.
I really can't say it would harm them providing they are washed well before consumption ...hmmmmm now you have me thinking ...what does everyone else think ?
Must go as I need to shower george before the nurse comes ...
ooops I almost forgot in case she still pops in to look every now and then
•*¨*•♫♪ღ░H░A░P░P░Y░ღ░B░I░R░T░H░D░A░Y░ ღ♪♫•*¨*•
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.♥.•¨*•♫♪Have a great day :O)♪♫•*¨*•.♥.•*¨... I hope it's a wonderful day for you Ann
Hmmm, occasionally brug leaves fall into the pets' water bucket. I fish them out when I see them of course. They lie in the leaf litter under the brugs then lick themselves later. Doesn't seem to have done them any harm although it's not something I'd recommend!
Washing them well, yes. Necessary for any edibles in my garden simply because of the presence of pets.
This message was edited Aug 15, 2011 10:33 AM
My new Brugs are looking good.
I mite have my fist seed pod on, which I crossed the apricot x pink, I hope there hold, I do not know were the apricot & pink came from or there real name, the mister of live. there are steal a nice flower.
I found this seedling in the shaded outdoor mini-greenhouse. It wasn't pressed up against the plastic walls and yet seems to be putting out aerial roots along the trunk. The pot is very dry--I've been underwatering--but the atmosphere in there is very humid, so I wonder if that prompted the roots to form?
One of the Double pink cuttings you sent is doing that here ...it's right next to the others, so i don't know why it is doing that, maybe just certain genes, frustrated nubs that didn't make it to a proper root. I bet if you laid it sideways you would get a few plants. You remember how in the USA forums they said trunk cuttings make a few if you lay them on their side half buried, you can see how by looking at that can't you.
I have just two TT buds opening ...if you look to the right halfway you can see a bite out of the branch from the Golf ball hail last summer and some leave damage on the plant next to it from the recent pea sized hail a few days ago which put shotgun pellet holes in BB blooms and wrecked some less hidden buds on other plants
Ah, I see the Terrible Tuesday gremlins are at work at DGs again ... ( That would be Tuesday in the US.)
I think it's stranger for a seedling to be putting out aerial roots than for a cutting to do so. The parent is tough Old Apricot, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised after all! (I'm wondering if it was trying to draw moisture from the humid air in the greenhouse, given that the soil in the pot had dried out, but I really don't know if this is feasible.) Won't be trying to make cuttings from it, at least not until I see if it's worth propagating from. Probably another white LOL
Buddleja salvifolia that looks like, Chrissy ... I thought you already had a huge one? To me it smells of old-fashioned talcum powder rather than honey, although mine here have not flowered yet. My Spring Promise buddlejas are, however, flooding the backyard with the scent of freesias :-)
This message was edited Aug 17, 2011 10:07 AM
Terrible Tuesday...lol ...is that why I was cursing, trying to load a pic yesterday...
That Spring Promise sounds lovely cestrum...I hope mine grows quickly.
It's a wonderful time for perfume in the garden isn't it.
There must be a climbing gene in your Brugs, all these aerial roots....maybe they want to climb..
I've been mixing up a potting mix for my future seedlings and I had to buy some Perlite.
When I opened the bag, instead of a fine grade, it is at least 5 times the size.....problem being, it floats...so did the smaller size..but these are big,strong fellas.
So I had to be very careful watering as it keeps rising to the top.
I think that I will contact Manutec and find out why they changed the grading...
Never having had a Sanguinea before, I never noticed how pretty the buds were...it's the ribs...
My second bud is coming out now...here is a pic.....it is Wednesday, isn't it......
Still won't post..I will try sending it separately...maybe it's me..
Try again.
It is pretty, Dianne, and it looks purple. Do you have any compatible pollen to hand?
A climbing brug? Now *that* would be something LOL
No I don't have any pollen, cestrum....but I don't mind because I will wait 'till we have the other Sphaeros up and growing...like the Vulsa X's.....I am going concentrate on those....
I hadn't noticed just how much purple is in the Sang bud....it is a really deep wine colour...
that must be where the purple comes from..
I know that the Rubella is a cross between a Sanguinea and an Arborea but I want to try the others first.
I still haven't pollinated anything myself so I need lots of practice.....lookout all the warm ones...lol
Here you are , a shock to the system for the Iochomas. This is what they all look like now I have cut them back. Going to be interesting to see how they do now.
I have cut the two originals back before, and they just grew quicker and taller.
Everything being beaten up in the strong winds out there now.
Jean.
That's what I would like to do to my hair at the moment..all off.
That is what I call a prune, Jean.....hope that they bush out for you..
I thought that I had 2 Iochromas the same, but one is I.grandiflora and the other is I.cyaneum.
Both dark blue....I hope that these seeds produce a couple of pinks....
I can only see them with a strong magnifying glass.
A couple of them seemed to be suspended in mid air, until I looked again and saw that a very fine fungus was supporting them...so I have taken off the top to let more air in.
The trials and tribulations of a very fine seed grower..lol
Aren't they pretty, Jean..
What colours do you have?
I have grandiflorum( purple )and a coccinea hybrid.(red) I bought them as small plants . The ones I grew from seed were as far as I can remember , from seed of Trebah and another blue or wine. Cant remember exactly because I wasnt really into them, just trying out various seeds. . You can see mine in BGI gallery. They are the pruned ones in the pic above . I also have australe Alba ( white).
I would rather the brugs .
Jean.
cestrum I forgot the fact you were talking about a seedling ... I know that like tomatoes if you plant a seedling Brug up to the cot leaf scars you get a much better root and growth because the part that was exposed beneath the medium and right up to the first two cot leaves will sprout roots once planted deeper. Yes it is the first butterfly bush you sent me and I had cut it right down but it is huge again ...I love it . My Spring Promise is a huge tree, I am going to bite the bullet and chop it down, it's way up above the roof and as a result I can't smell it very much, I remember it was delicious when I could.
Oh those poor little sticks Jean ...I am sure they will grow very well for you, no worries re a late Frost?
Can't wait to see your Spring Angel parade.
I couldnt believe my eyes........I went out to look at my brug buds and overnight there was an invasion ........SNAILS EVERYWHERE!!!!!......It was pouring during the night and every snail on the street I think came to annoy ME?? Most I cant reach ,they are all over the OA ,but also surprisingly over the bare lilacs?Dozens of bairns ,mums and dads......usually they seem to stay hiding in the agapanthus and osteospernums but for some reason they decided the shrubs were a better place to hang out .... or they've realised I cant get at them easily ? sighhhhhhh .........I cant put snail bait down cos of the pets soooo will ask if son has a can of beer in his fridge.......that seems to work combined with my weight,they sure dont like being stepped on .....They want WAR they will get it .....in spades ......Sooooo here I go ,girding my loins, putting my rubber gloves on and doing the drop and stamp dance ......I wont win the War but I'm determined to win the Battle .....Wish me luck LOL
You have my sympathies, I have all of their cousins at my place, where they have been on and off since Autumn....
I certainly wish you luck.....I have snail bait everywhere and I'm convinced that they slide around it...
I can't step on them....though I feel like it....
That was my garden last year and it's only the dry winter that seems to have decreased the numbers somewhat. Mine too were crawling thru the shrubs and trees, safe from both snailbait and skinks.
I can certainly step on them, doing my own version of the drop and stamp dance :-) I reckon that they just need to die quickly--I don't want to torture any living thing--but die they must! So good luck to you BBW--we are with you in spirit LOL
I dont have snails here at all. Hubby says there have never been any here on the hill. They certainly live down in the town in droves.
BUT..... before you all congratulate me on my good luck, remember there are their cousins "THE SLUGGIES "
I have enough here to cover a football field I am sure. There are all sizes and shapes. They even invade the toilet. which is on the back veranda. Go out at night and they are climbing the walls and eating the toilet paper. I kid you not. They leave holes in the toilet paper. I dont know if they use it or eat it but one has to waste a lot getting rid of the outside bits.
Between them and the slaters, I have the world population .
Jean.
Puff, puff, pant , pant. I have just come in after moving some brugs.
Boy are those dear angels heavy. I didnt realise how darn tall they are and there are now a few missing branches that I knocked off here and there while trying to jiggle the things through a gate.
I now have in the ground, Polar Queen, Zabalione, Frosty Pink and hmmm, forgot the other one. Lucky they all have tags.
There are others out the front that have been in the ground for a year or so.
Next job is to repot all the others into large pots. By summer, the ones in the greenhouse will be ready to venture outside too.
Going to go and relax with a book and a cuppa.
This was me. Very cold and wet this morning an working up a sweat with my jumper off in a bit of sunshine.
☃ ☃ ☃
Jean.
My Iochroma seeds have germinated....They are so fine, like mushroom mycelium...
3 weeks to the day and there are lots of them.....
Are your Brugs near the house Jean, so they can waft...I don't know Polar Queen, but Zab and FP are wonderful..
Zab in particular, I would not be without....I love it's perfume.
Still have a few to repot...but I have given most of the large ones a slurp of Molasses, Epsom salts and beer that I gave them in Autumn...I have very happy Brugs and Tilly loves to lick the drops, so she's happy too.
Dianne.
My first Arborea seedling's bud is about to bloom. Colleen
My vulsa seedling are slowly growing. I wish the bugs would leave them alone. Colleen
