If any of you have popped into the Australian Forum you've seen that we've caught Brugs mania. From time to time I see the odd photo of brugs in the Tropical Zone Forum and I'm wondering how you guys go with them in high humidity, serious rainfall areas. I seem to get great color but not the mad multiples Alistair gets. How about you? :) Ann
I can't manage too keep Brugmansias alive for very long. Carol lives close by and does very well with them.
Aloha Ann,
Alistair's brug hedges are gorgeous, and some of his new crosses are wonderful - what a guy!
Got brugs in my garden, but my area is hot and dry so I can't really address your question. I would imagine that you might have to push the fertilizer in an area of high rainfall as anything fed in the root zone would be quickly leached away...Do you foliar feed?
I am in the process of culling some of my brugs as they grow into serious sized trees here. Years ago when I first caught the mania I had to have one of everything, but good sense has finally struck and I am only keeping those that are not bug magnets, thrive in the sun, and flower almost continually throughout the year without much attention from me...a lazy gardener!
On to the next obsession! Good luck with your plants, hopefully someone with the same growing conditions will be more helpful than I can be.
Jen
Ann, Brugs do beautifully in my area!!! They do need a lot of fertilizer with all the rain we get. Sometimes with weeks of rain they start to grow tiny roots along the trunks. When I prune (often) and drop the prunings on the ground...if I am not vigilent they root and keep growing. The bees adore them....will post some photos...
Here is another...sometimes the top skirt plays around the top, sometimes it comes further down... Someone told me it is called Hawaiian Dancer. The only brug that doesn't seem to like it is Golden Lady...she pouts alot!
Jen, We rot down mulch and build beds from that mixed with the soil. Very healthy, too healthy as some plants put all there energy into green growth rather than flower production. In the winter when it's drier (and cooler) we get better displays.
Carol, Are most of your brugs bred in Hawaii or do you have mainlanders as well? My theory is that the breeding characteristics that serve them well in subtropical to temperate areas may not serve them as well in seriously tropical areas. When you get a chance I'd love to see more photos :) Ann
Ann...all of my brugs came from the mainland and I must confess that I do have trouble with the double pinks... I will take some photos of the trees...which become HUGE in a short period of time....I am constantly pruning them!!! At first I had an attack of mites (Broad mites and Spotted Mites) and got all OCP about controlling them. Now? They love one of the varieties above all and I let them tear into that one and they seem to stay away from the rest. Feeding IS important...lots and often....but the beauty is worth it. Gee...I sure wish I could send you some cuttings!!!!!
I'll be glad to take hers.
PK
I started out gardening with brugs because they are so spectacular looking when in bloom, but here hot and humid, they grow too fast, attract too many diseases and insects during the the summer (here April thru November) that I've removed 90 percent of the brugs from my garden. I still have 5 or 6 trees, and now they are going to seed and growing from them too. I know this sounds like heaven to those in the north who coddle the 3 foot tree during the winter, but such is the bane of brugs.
There is a method that I've though of trying, but haven't yet and that is pruning them extremely hard if not to the ground in april, which should give them enough time to regrow during the summer in time for oct/nov when it starts cooling down here and they begin blooming again. I can't leave any of the pruned branches on the ground or they start growing right where they dropped.
I sure like the orange tint your brugs have!
Rj
Hmmmmm Randy....I think I will try that method on a few of mine which are simply TOO tall to manage...and the trunks are 6" in Diameter. I am thinking of killing them and planting new ones...or make new ones.
Right!? It makes sense on how fast they grow. I've tried it on one, and it works quite well.
Randy...I love the font you use for Jungle Heights...what's it called?
Bravehartsmom is being modest, she has the most beautiful brugs in her garden, please post some pics of your doubles & triples :)
It is a font that I got off of the photo storage from Picasa...I'll have to sort it out when I get home....which I'm off work now...so ...probably tomorrow...
Picasa is great..I love it. http://picasa.google.com/
It's great..it's google...they are reeling me in...I use gmail now, blog in google, and use the photo deal..and probably some other things.
Ann I am intrigued by how you get such vivid colours. Have you got hard water? or coral sand in your soil??
Hi Jen :-)
Alistair, I'm on mountain water gravity fed from the National Park behind my house, very mineraly. We only have to irrigate in the dry but that's when water levels are low and lots of leaves are breaking down in the creek, lots of microbe action. Also mulch rots down here so fast we leave truckloads in piles to add to soil when making beds. The brugs beds are about 50 to 75% pure humus. I'm convinced humus improves color in plants, but you know what they say about opinionslol. Sorry this is so cryptic must pull hair out and go back to accounting work Arrrggghhhh....
ps also add mill mud and mill ash by the truckloads. Two byproducts of local sugar mill, maybe ash is similar to bio char? Must investigate!!
Aloha Alistair, long time no chat, but I am always watching your new babies being born! Please post the picture of your brug hedge here - it's gorgeous!
Be very careful Carol - we cut a very large brug tree down to a stump only to find that we had new trees grow all along the root system and ended up with a dozen new trees!
Mahalo Laurie, you are always such a sweetheart! ^_^
Good info, Jenn...thanks...
I pulled one of the bigger ones out of the ground after the hurricane, and STILL, yes..another grows..I thought I removed all the roots.
Ann, I agree with your theory. I have alot of muclh from oak trees and what not, and the yellow are deeper in colour and have more orange tint, later in the year when there is not as much mulch the colours are a bit faded..could be a variety of reasons but that's probably one.
Ann its probably everything you are doing that gets the colour! but I suspect a key factor is the heavily mineralized water. Using it in the dry season may help stabilize soil pH when there would otherwise a lot of acidification (and calcium leaching??) from all the organic matter???? Just guessing really. Do you know what sort of rock underlies your soil?
Here's a bit of the hedge
That hedge is enough to take your breath away, thanks for posting!
I must say, I'm impressed too! I really like the idea too..
Thanks :) I have to say its a lot of work (tons of poop-shovelling!), but worth it if everything comes together - not too much heat and wind, no hail storms, and the mite predators are busy doing their thing!
Guys I'm sorry I've been MIA on my own thread. I have a particularly nasty flu. I'm finding so much of the information posted interesting but it'll be a few days before I can gather my thoughts to reply. Ann
This one is a fun brug...in one flush the flowers can be anything from white to deep peach at the same time...
I'll say that's fun!
I keep small trees to rotate on the deck when they're in bloom. That's if I keep on the ball. I was repotting, rotating, planting in the ground..it's so stuffed in the beds!
I forget the name of this one, but it's extremely fragrant.
Funnily enough, it seems to me that the Brugs that have been "born" in my garden take the full sun much better than those "born" elsewhere. Anybody notice that too?
Jen
Alistair, I finally figured out it's Basalt rock under my topsoil. But because it's a creek flat it's also quite rocky. We are putting in a little retail area so these are the photos I took yesterday while cleaning out the drainage trenches.
Really not very nice stuff but it's taught us about how to build clay soil.
It's starting to get cooler here and I'd say unseasonably drier but it's started raining today again. I get my best flushes when it cooler and drier.This is my Pink Panther outside my bathroom window,inspired by Alistair's kitchen view :) It's really not quite that pink, not sure how the camera captured that as my hand looks normal. Ann
They look absolutely luscious Ann and a good idea planting outside your bathroom window...breathing in that wonderful scent!
looks great!
What's the difference between Brugmansia and Datura? I was in a nursery today and saw plants just like all the Brugmansia photos here (purple coloured though) and they were labelled Datura.
Brugmansia used to be included in Datura but are now separated on the basis of their tree-like habit.
Brugmansia includes six species from the Andes of South America. Notable species being Brugmansia arborea, B. aurea, B. sanguinea, B. suaveolens, B. versicolor, and the garden plant B. x candida (a cross between B. aurea & B. versicolor).
Datura includes ten species from North America and Central America. Notable species being Datura locanum, D. metel, and D. stramonium.
Aloha, apart from being classified as different species as Dave says, Brugmansia flowers hang down and Datura flowers point upright. ^_^
hahahahah! That was my answer and decided to let someone else explain. Thanks, Jenn
Will Brugmansias be ok overwintering outdoors in zone 6? or best kept in a pot? moved to the garage? shed? or does it have to go inside? I have a couple of cuttings that I want to share with family there, but only if it will survive. Older family members won't be able to move a pot, so I'm REALLY REALLY hoping it will overwinter in the ground.
Checked it out on the checklist, we have 4 Daturas in the Northern Territory, all introduced, and mainly in the arid areas. Apparently D. leichhardtii is native to Australia but not the NT. It's a prohibited import, Class C declared weed.
A couple of years back I bought (from them) what they've labelled Datura. The woman warned me it probably wouldn't do too well but that possibly it would seed and I might keep it going like that. Well, in no time it curled up its roots and died.
So what killed it? My usual apathetic approach to a lot of plants? The climate? My long-complained-about bore water? I like the look of the plant, but is it worth trying again?
A close up of the flower
The type I have grow up to 8 feet, you can see the top of the fence in this photo.
I've found that the few types I have, most like a lot of water, but there are a couple that I've killed because they like the opposite.
