Growing Brugmansias

I have a fascination with brugmansias ("brugs" to those gardeners who grow them.) They have the most beautiful and spell-binding flowers. They are also very easy to grow indoors or outdoors in the summer.

I got mine as cuttings in the mail. I traded someone for them in Sept of last year. Cuttings root very easily in water but only if the water is warm. If you let the water get cold, they will not root. It is important to keep the cuttings in a place that stays fairly warm most of the time. Unfortunately, in mid winter or late fall, that can be difficult for some people. You can always use a heating pad on low, with a few towels folded on it for warmth under the water. After a few short days in warm water the cuttings will develop pre-root thingies (its an industry term) on the part in the water. They should look like this:

After these have developed you can safely plant your cutting in slightly damp potting soil. Keep the cutting fairly warm and only slightly damp. Too much water will cause it to rot and too dry will kill it. Brugs do not like to dry out at all, so just keep it constantly slightly moist. I have not had a problem with mine. When they look a little wilted, I water them. I usually end up watering them about the same as my other houseplants, after they have started growing.

I keep mine in the kitchen by the south patio door. I empty the day old coffee into their various pots every morning and dump the coffee grounds into their pots. They seem to like it.

After a couple of weeks you should have some leaves sprouting. Put the cutting in a sunny area throughout the winter. It doesn't have to be a south window, just an area that gets some sun. The goal is to keep it alive until you can put it outside in the spring, after all danger of frost has passed.

After they have started actively growing, feed them weekly with a very mild fertilizer solution.

I kept the growing new plants in the kitchen all winter long. By the time spring came along they were this size. Your brugmansia will triple in size outdoors in the summertime.

When all danger of frost has completely passed, they can go outside. Up here in the north, they do best in full sun. Down in the southern states in the extreme heat, they do best in a fairly shady area. Half shade is ideal.

When they are actively growing they need a lot of fertilizer. They are heavy feeders. I almost think it is impossible to overfeed them. I use time release fertilizer in the spring and apply it liberally into the soil and the planting hole where my brugs are going.


They will grow at an alarming rate with good light, lots of fertilizer and enough water. They don't like to dry out completely and will wilt readily if they need water, and they need a lot of it. If given the right conditions, you will be rewarded with the most fantastic blooms you have ever seen. I started my cuttings in September 2008. I got my first bloom in October 2009. This is it.

If you live in the great white north, as I do, you will need to do one of two things with your brugmansias in the fall. You can either dig them up, plant into very large pots and bring indoors to be grown as houseplants; or you can dig up the root ball, put it into a pot or plastic bag, water and keep in the cold cellar, cold, unfrozen and dormant until the following spring.

When spring arrives and all danger of frost is past, it can be planted back outdoors again. You will need to harden it off and put it outside gradually.

If you start your cuttings now, perhaps you can get blooms by next fall too. 

This is what I am hoping for from my mature brugmansias next summer. These photos are not mine. These magnificent plants belong to someone else, but there is hope for mine next year!

A Sunny Winter Walk

 

I took advantage of a day off at work and some beautiful winter sun to get a few things done around the home. The picture above is of our mailbox and the line of spruce trees that protect us from the road. They are beautiful trees and such a straight line, too. Hmmm, they must have used a string for that.

It’s this mailbox that was on the top of the “to-do” list today. It needed to be put back in place before the postman came. Hubby brought it in from the field on the way home from work yesterday. We are in a never ending battle with the snow plow over our space requirement for the mailbox. How much space does one little mailbox use? Can the driver of the county snow plow not see our black mailbox in all that white snow? Does he/she have some hidden agenda to rid the countryside of all mailboxes? Are these mailboxes a threat? In my frustration at constantly having to redo the mailbox I have considered a 1′ wide cement pillar sunk 3′ into the ground as my next mailbox post, but I can’t put anything permanent there that will damage the snow plow. ( It would be a difficult thing to do, damaging the snow plow, as the plow implement attached to the tractor is taller than I am.) Can we not work something out here? If the county snow plow drivers will leave my mailbox where it stands, I promise it will never jump up and bite them. That’s a fair trade-off, don’t you think?

When I first moved to the country I bemoaned the fact that my mailbox listed to one side, as it is attached to a post just barely being held in place by cement blocks. I was told that it is that way for a reason and there is no point in sinking the post into the ground. The snowplow will just take it out on its way by. I have seen some beautiful and creative mailboxes in the country. I wonder how they keep them in place. Do they bribe the snowplow drivers with coffee or hot chocolate as they drive by? That is something I have considered, as well, but I could never just stand there for hours in the hopes that the plow would come. The coffee would be cold by then and I would be frozen. Naw…not worth it.

I have seen one innovation that I would love to make. A mailbox attached to a long pole that stretches 12′ out to the road from a fence post. The pole is attached to the fence post with hinges so it is just pushed aside by the plow and springs back into place after it has gone by. Now that’s a brilliant idea! Look for updates on the mailbox problem in years to come. I don’t say “this year” because I have a long list of more immediate things to do before I can get that far down the to-do list, however, if I have to replace the mailbox too many more times this winter, it will move up on the “to-do” list.

I did a little snow shovelling. Even with a snowblower for the driveway we still need to clear the smaller areas.I had to shovel out the gate into the chicken pen so I could go in there and open their door. They need sunshine too. Being the spoiled gals that they are, I had to shovel some snow away from their door, as well. I also went inside and shooed them out with the shovel. I put lots of treats outside for them. It wasn’t long before they were out in the sunshine. It is not that cold today and they have been shut up indoors through most of the long, hard winter. Come out, come out, wherever you are!

We also need to shovel the snow from the wood pile. The ice from the shop roof has fallen on it and covered most of it. Can’t get that stuff with the snowblower, much as I’d like to give it a try. We still need that pile of wood for the wood stove. It’s not THAT warm today. 

 

This sits beside the wood pile. The winter farmer’s best friend!

 

 

 

 

Our secured and locked cellar door! I adore real fieldstone! The inside of the cellar is fieldstone too. There is another door into the cellar and basement from inside the house. I am planning on writing a piece called “Root Cellars, How to Make Them and How to Use Them” in the near future.

I continued on my sunny day walk. Look! footie-prints in the snow. It’s probably that squirrel that I see on the porch almost every day. Yep, they go across the yard, over the well casing and up the stairs to the deck-porch.

This is the squirrel that has discovered my stash of acorns for putting on grapevine wreaths.

 

Sure enough, he’s been in the acorns and eaten most of them. No wonder he likes my front porch so much! (I grew up in Tennessee. I have spent most of my adult life in Canada but I still say things like, "sure enough". Occasionally I might be caught saying, "y'all". It comes back when I'm tired or have been watching a very southern person on TV.) 

These are the pinecones I saved for the wreaths. We will probably use most of them for fire starters. I never did get those wreaths decorated. Here they are drying, waiting patiently for spring and what’s left my the acorns. 

 

These are the grapevine wreaths I made in the summer, drying on the porch. I have great plans for those next year!
 

 

The fierce protecting farm dog has decided that it is indeed a nice day and comes out with me. He decides not to brave the snow and ice today and just wanders around on the deck. After all, he is 14 years old. He may be mellow now but he was a force to be reckoned with in his younger days! All the neighborhood kids were afraid of him and he chased anything that moved. 

 

 

Also on our porch is winter greenery. See, you, too can have greenery in the winter. It’s called “plastic” and could be a new and innovative idea for farm decorating! Get yours while they are still available at every Walmart!

 

 

My new brugs are enjoying the winter sun too! These are brugmansias. They are beautiful tropical plants. I got cuttings from trading all over the world for them. They grow inside in the winter with the houseplants. (See my post "Growing Brugmansias".)

 

 

 

I see my winter sowing on the deck. There are many, many tiny seeds planted in these containers under the snow. When the warm spring sun warms them up and shines on them, they will sprout and be protected under the cover of the plastic tops – just like mini greenhouses. Winter sowing is a great way to start new seeds and to get my hands in the dirt in the middle of January when the ground outside is frozen. I love the smell of dirt. I have to smell dirt even if it is winter!

We do BBQ in the wintertime. When we lived in a subdivision, many years ago, our neighbors thought we were a little “off” for firing up the BBQ in -20 temps. I don’t know what the big deal is. I think we are privy to some information that they are not… it’s not cold in front of the BBQ.

Well, back to work. I have such a long to-do list for this winter. I don’t think I will ever get it all done. The next job is building a large bat house with my new radial arm saw. I love power tools!