First brugmansia in my life germinated :))

Her it is; not quite fully open, but enough to release its lovely scent , a huge flower too, measuring 8 inches from the back of the bud to the tip of the flower..

 

Yay Bilbo,
magic. Wish I could sniff it.
See, I couldn't wait til 7.30 this morning,
Congratulations. I've gotta have a go next Spring,
Jenny
7.19am

 

What are you two like?

(c) me

 

Well done Bilbo ... only 6', in flower by mid August in a lousy Summer (although might have been better op-your-way?) ... top job

 

Thanks Kristen , its pushing on for 7ft now with the fork in the stem and there are dozens of flower buds coming so hopefully it'll be flowering for a long time yet

Our summer has been up and down like everyone elses but the last couple of months have seen the nightime temperatures staying above 13-15 degrees so I think that's helped, along with most of my other 'tropicals'

 

Thanks Jenny, I'll be sowing a couple again next spring too, just in case I fail to overwinter these two, hopefully I won't

Thanks also to Peters for the original seed, amazing what can grow from a small seed in such a relatively short space of time

 

Did you pot on regularly? When I grew then from seed I had not read that helped, so mine got a bit pot bound and I think that may have delayed their flowering. Only 25% flowered in the first year, although all were 10' or so by end of summer (and all stayed in conservatory)

I expect you know this, but you can take cuttings from above-the-fork and they will flower (without having to grow tall and then fork etc.). However, schools-of-thought think that that then means that they flower too low down (especially as the flowers hang downwards), so having a plant that is more of a "standard" makes it easier to appreciate. (As an alternative you can take "long" cuttings from Brugs that will give you some instant height)

Also beware that the stems are quite fragile - they grow faster than they can support themselves. I have bamboo canes strapped to all mine - so that they can bend, but cannot bend fast enough to snap!

And keep feeding them like billio (Tomato fertiliser, or the like, to keep them flowering)

 

Thanks for the advice on the cuttings Kristen, I may well have a go at that

I did pot them on regularly until they reached approx 4-5ft tall, then I put them in quite a large pot and left them in that, feeding and watering regularly.

Just walked past the blow-away greenhouse where it is housed and the scent coming out of it was amazing and thats just one flower

 

I must grow these from seed next year!

 

Not hard (in my experience) but you do need to be able to grow them on quickly, so an unheated conservatory would be a minimum for the best results I would think. Greenhouse will do, but these things get tall and will be hitting the roof before long ... and if you have to put them outside too early there is a risk that they won't get to flowering size in their first year (nothing wrong with that, but if you can keep them running flat-out you will get there sooner).

 

A couple of inches to go and its hit the roof of the greenhouse at almost 8ft , this is going to get interesting

 

You may be woken up in the night by the sound of glass breaking !!

 

Or ripping plastic in my case

 

Well today was the day; its been evicted , at almost 8ft tall it was pushing up against the roof so its out in the big wide world

 

I think your Brug's received blessings from above. It will enjoy the next few days in the warm sunshine,
Jenny