Brugmansias in autumn 2014

Hmmm, everyone's gone away. Well then, I'll just chat to myself :-) Maybe I should call this my blog! So long as I don't have to join FB I'm happy.

After the Big Dry of summer, we've had a spurt of good rain. That plus the cooler autumn temps has brought everything into bloom, including the brugs. I found this lovely little surprise yesterday--it's an unnamed brug I bought as a cutting in 2007 (yes, 7 years ago) that has been completely neglected until I finally planted it out with all the other brugs into one bed last year. It looks like my old Golden Butter (old because it died after several years of total neglect in the murraya hedge). A perfect replacement--has that strong aurea fragrance too. I think it probably is Golden Butter.

FFA is also in bloom. I think this must be the most yellow it's ever been in my garden.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2014 10:50 AM

Here's the other cutting of FFA flowering now. This one is growing in shade and you can see what a difference the growing conditions make--the blooms are much paler and the leaves are darker and larger than the other one, which is in full sun.

Now for something else, sort of on the yellow theme: one of my abutilon seedlings. I love both its colour and its shape.The parent plant is shown at right, but I don't know which of my abutilons supplied the pollen. If only abutilons were scented ...

Here's Ecuador Pink in full bloom. There hasn't been a bloom on it for a year but after this rain the whole plant has been transformed from near-leafless branches. I'm often tempted to dig it out because it's one of those brugs that needs constant watering to thrive but so far it's survived because there's always been something more pressing (or interesting) that needed doing in the garden.

I'm going to finish with one of my dombeyas, in full flower. The bees love it--you have to be careful as you brush past it in the morning to not get a bee in your ear! It has a light blossom fragrance and I'm really proud of its size, given that I grew it from seed.

Here is one of my 2009 seedlings. I've posted a picture of its first bloom elsewhere showing the cut petals. In this flush the flower is much larger in contrast to most of my other seedlings, whose blooms tend to be on the small size. I've compared it with Ecuador Pink to give an indication of its size.

It looks very pretty when the tendrils curl up and its size makes it stand out. But what makes it a real keeper is the scent--an absolutely intense perfume. I have to take a cutting and find a spot for it closer to the house because it would rank up their with my white suaveolens for intensity of perfume.

This message was edited Apr 24, 2014 8:19 AM

As luck would have it, that seedling has ended up with two labels. One shows the parent plant as my white OA seedling, the other as My Seuss. I think the OA seedling label is probably correct but the pollen donor is still unknown.

This message was edited Apr 24, 2014 8:22 AM

A closeup of my dombeya.

Finally, another one of my abutilon seedlings. Blooming beautifully after the rain and milder temps.

So Nice and VERY pretty. Thank you for sharing

Iowa Z5, USA

Here's another one of my seedlings, flowering for the first time. Just this large white bloom on it. Short and fat, squat I guess is what you'd call it. It's certainly the fattest bloom on any of my brugs and worth keeping for that alone. I've compared it with OA x BB but the photo still doesn't do justice to quite how fat that white bloom is.
Forgot to say it's Golden Butter x unknown. I'm scratching my head about that 'unknown', wondering what could have produced such a squat bloom.

This message was edited Apr 25, 2014 10:21 AM

Finally, here's the abutilon of the day. This seedling has lovely swirled/ruffled petals which are very pretty.

Forgot to post the second photo.

pretty plants...
there is a bright orange abutilon two houses up the street from me, it is growing in the corner so has warmth from two brick walls & is getting big.

I noticed some nice colours for sale through TradeMe - I browse every so often to see what might be out there.

No Brugs in the South Island but sometimes see cuttings available up North.

I am kicking myself that I didn't get the chance to ask about where the one at Ellerslie came from.
It was a pretty colour & the scent was lovely too.
It was labelled "Old Gold"

Hi cestrum,
a little birdie told me you were here ^_^

I think that one (the first yellow) looks a lot like Chloe, but after what I have seen by lots of growers ...it could be anything really. So many people out there we hadn't known were into Brugs (as well as some I knew from way back).

So much you haven't seen, but I hope colleen and Shaun pop in to show you your seedlings that have bloomed as specially the mystery double he got from one of your Suaveolens x ? crosses.
colleen has a beautiful double from a K x ? of yours (at least we think it's yours).

It's great that you take over this thread, I started it many years ago just talking to myself after all and I guess it ended that way too, with people just talking at each other instead of to each other.
Might be hard to capture that wonderful (new to it all) feeling again, but it looks like you are off to a great start ! You have some pretty blooms there as usual, great to see FFA in her yellow dress.

Hi Teresa, oh what a shame !

waving to anyone popping in ...

chrissy

Waving to ships in the night :-)
Teresa, I bought B. sanguinea seeds from a seller in NZ years ago (can't remember name or what part of NZ), so sellers exist there. (My seedlings couldn't take the heat and humidity here.) You'll need to provide a microclimate that protects them from heavy/prolonged frost, unless you want to dig them up each autumn and overwinter indoors as they do overseas. (Sounds like a lot of work.) Abutilons, though, are much easier, and are treated as annuals in cold climates. (Or brought inside for winter.) Well worth trying in your garden, I think.
Chrissy, that aurea brug could well be one of the named ones (GB or Chloe) because it predates the recent explosion in brug seedlings in this country. Interesting news about the suaveolens cross because I've just checked and it was one that I thought had been pollinated by Full Rosea Magic (pollen supplied by BGI). So if it's a double, I reckon that explains who the father is. (And that overseas pollen works.)
PS I'm not taking over! Just posting pics when I have the time and motivation.

Here's my first double white seedling. The label should be buried in the mulch but I believe it's an overseas cross. Haven't been able to get outside early/late enough to smell more than a faint whiff of perfume. I've also compared it with an almost white/immature FFA bloom (it hasn't opened fully) and Squatty.

Hi everyone. Cestrum This is "Marmaduke" KnightiiXOAXBB. This was the first flowering 1&2. second flowering 3&4. Colleen

3&4. This second flowering haven't dropped their skirts. Colleen

Knightii also sometimes doesn't fully drop its skirts and occasionally sets singles, so that seedling seems to be doing the same thing. The tendrils in the first flush are quite striking but it will be interesting to see what form its bloom takes when it finally settles down. (And maybe how they differ in different climates too, as knightii itself seemed to perform better in some gardens.)

Ironically, most of my own knightii crosses died. Of those left, only one has bloomed. It's knightii x Ecuador Pink, a single white with a strongly recurved skirt and mild fragrance that's got a flush on it now.

Here's that single white seedling (with a citrus scent) that was supplied to me as an Angels Flight x Superspot cross. If you remember, my big floppy apricots were also labelled as belonging to that cross, and they assuredly are not. Who knows what cross this one really is ... all I know is that it almost certainly isn't AFx SS.

You can't really see how small that bloom is in the previous photos. Here it is compared with Elfin Pink, so named because of the small size of its blooms. Like Elfin Pink, this white seedling is a tall and vigorous grower, but its blooms are actually smaller than those of EP.
Edited for typos.

This message was edited Apr 26, 2014 12:22 PM

Here they are with Old Apricot x ButterBomb.

Here they are with Old Apricot itself at far left.

Left to right: Old Apricot, Elfin Pink, AFxSS (so labelled), Firefighter Angel, OAxBB

I've added a paler/larger FFA bloom (from the shade-growing plant) to the right of the AFxSS seedling. The darker/smaller one beside it is from the full-sun plant.

Two FFA blooms. Look at the difference between the bloom growing in shade (larger and paler) and the one growing in full sun (smaller and darker).

Finally, here's FFA (the paler shade-grown bloom) at left with that new double white.

You may be surprised really cestrum,
look what I got for one of my Creamsickle x Super Spot(pictures) Your Knightii cross looks a bit like this, so that makes me feel better. This one is very nice, but nothing like I was expecting.

The double whites don't seem to love the heat much. I still haven't seen buds on Hyacinth Bouquet, one of your Knightii crosses and one of my white doubles with 7 skirts struggles. I have a double white from Allan that is a beautiful strong plant, but refuses to hold onto it's buds. Must be some sort of climate difference I think.

You would be so surprised at what some results give ...this one has donor pods on it already, that happened last year when it was wet too. I have found pods on many of the plants this morning (sprinkling out there and cool). The buds are there but in very slow motion now the days are shorter and cold.

That one of yours colleen, is a real beaut ...Hopefully you may be able to send some to cestrum next year, :)

chrissy

Wow what a little chubby bubby ...really cute ! Great to see all the comparison pics ...I tossed some in too, there are so many pics ^_^

chrissy

I think our Aussie crosses are swiftly catching up with those overseas (luckily our climate allows).

There are so many beauties in Australia now ...I can relax ^_^ the Brugs are in fine hands here in Australia. Alistair is importing some too I think, so with all that going on ...it's the rise of the Brugmansia in Our Great Southern Land.

The last three of those previous pics of mine are from Wayne Carter with his magic moths ^_^ aren't they beautiful ? and the pictures just don't do them justice, all lasted over a week, all going through such stunning colour changes.

I am still waiting for Sweet Jaffa to open, as mentioned they take soooo long once it is cold.
Will post them when they open.
Anyone I am growing stuff out for, I will post the results.
Cheerio to all passing by.

chrissy

No no no no no, please DON'T send me anything ... can't keep up the watering and there a few of my own crosses I would still like to grow out.
But thanks for the generosity of thought :-)

The Creamsickle x SS does look like mine although I don't have any Creamsickle crosses at all ...perhaps more correct to say I don't have any *labelled* as Creamsickle because I certainly have ended up with some cuckoos so far as those Angels flight x Superspot crosses are concerned. I especially like that fourth picture where they all seem to be leaning in the same direction, cute.
The thing is, though, that regardless of how pretty the seedling looks, you tend to be disappointed if you were expecting something else. It's hard to take off the glasses of disappointment and evaluate the plant for what it is instead of what you had hoped it would be. Probably true of many things in life too ... but enough of Amateur Philosophy 101 and on with the brugs!
I can see Bucks Fizz (mine also flowering now) and Frosty Pink there. What is it with the open-pollinated beauties in Wayne's garden: I reckon he's got fairies in the garden, not moths!
Re pods: I've just harvested an open-pollinated pod from my Salmon Perfektion x Dorthea (double pink) seedling. (Maurice, you have a cutting of that one.) It had only 2 kernels in it but the surprising thing about it is that the pod has been on that plant since *at least* the start of winter (i.e. June last year). I can definitely remember noting it then and wondering if it would survive the cold nights, but it might actually have appeared in autumn. So that's *at least* 10 months to maturity! I had to sow those two kernels, of course, and worry about where to put them later :-) so will be interesting to see if they're viable.

This message was edited Apr 26, 2014 12:19 PM

Here is another disappointment, Superspot x Bergkonigin. (What is it with my Superspot crosses?) It's not just that it wasn't what I expected but it's inferior to the best of my own single whites.

This message was edited Apr 27, 2014 8:12 AM

Oh that's another unexpected result ...both of these Brugs have reputations for giving whites though.I like whites but you just don't expect these results. Sorry for your disappointment.

It will be interesting to see further results won't it ? Sweet Jaffa is taking ages, still just sitting there. It's getting almost Winter cold now.

Our own crosses are giving us colour, so take heart in that.

chrissy

Marmaduke's second skirt never dropped so I took the first skirt off to reveal what was underneath. Started off lemon, then got darker lemon second skirt, then the second skirt turns delicate apricot in this cold weather. Will be interesting to see his colour next Spring,Summer. Third pic is BFx PP. Colleen

Yeah, that white is a dud in terms of colour/size/shape/scent, which is pretty much everything of interest.
Will be interesting to see how Marmaduke (named already! I find only the seedlings with defects get nicknames in my garden, they seem to name themselves) develops over time. You can see the difference in my FFA blooms, just growing in different spots in the same garden/time/climate. Even the full-sun ones that look yellow from a distance turn out to be apricot when examined close up (hello, New Orleans Lady!), yet they definitely turn yellow in Chrissy's garden. So who knows what colour M will turn out to be, or maybe what shades of colour through the seasons.
A lot of my whites develop an apricot tinge with age. Dunno if this means that they might be carrying the genes for apricot colour or whether it's just part of the changes that occur as the bloom decays. That small white is another that tinges apricot with age.

BFxPP has delicate tendrils. Wonder if it will turn paler in warm temps and darker in winter? My two My Seuss seedlings do that, and have turned a deeper shade with the cooler night temps. Here's the first one. Nothing special, but interesting (to me!) nonetheless.

Here's the other one, reminiscent of Bucks Fizz.
Neither of these seedlings is as good as the parent and if I were starting again I would have jumped straight into the overseas doubles, crossing them with my own singles rather than crossing the singles with each other.