Brugmansia grown in a pot

Davy - I must have missed your picture - thats lovely.


Above is my first flower this year from a seed grown Brugmansia. It opened yesterday in a very pale yellow - that I found a bit disappointing. However, to my delight, this morning it had become darker and was apricot coloured. And this evening when I took the picture it had become pink !


I bought the packet from Jungle Seeds, and it was named Hertzenbrucke, which was obviously the mother plant. As nearly all Brugmansias are self sterile, ie need a seperate plant (that is not an identical cutting) to provide pollen , its obvious that the plant wouldn't come true. And it hasn't - I think daddy had a touch of pink in his genes. The picture above is Jungle seeds illustration of the mother Hertzenbrucke - there is not a lot of similarity.

I am really looking forward to seeing how the other plants turn out.

 

Its still a nice flower Peter, even though its not come true, (I doubt you were expecting it to).

I presume you started the seed off early in your light box?

 

That's quick Pete - yes I sowed my first batch of seeds in January.

Its a lovely flower and I am very pleased. I was disappointed in the colour the first day as it was a very pale wishy-washy yellow, but I was delighted with both the apricot of this morning and now the pink. Who knows what colour it will be tomorrow. It just makes it more exciting waiting for the others - they could produce anything. :D

 

Hi Peter . It's great to see that first flower ,and so amazing how they change colour.
I did buy Hertzenbrucke from Jungle seeds 2 years ago and have a number of them flowering size now ..If you or Pete want a couple of stem cuttings PM me and I'll sort them for your ..no problems.

Interested to see what other flowers appear..

Dave

 

Really lovely everyone! I have a pale yellow one that's flowering, there's a pic in my back garden album, and the scent is amazing!!! I am definitely hooked on these beauties and would LOVE to get some more!

 

Dave - many thanks for your kind offer. I might well take you up on that. I can understand how people buy cuttings - so as to guarantee a good colour. Thats why I am growing quite a lot of seedlings - just to see if something nice turns up.

I will hopefully be taking a whole load of cuttings later on, when I see what the colours are like. So you and Catztail are welcome to some of those. A breeder on another forum said that he grows about 60 Brugs from his own pollenated seed. He lets them grow up and flower, and selects the best to take cuttings from. He then composts most of the plants, so that he only has to overwinters cuttings and a few of his most important plant.

I am very tempted to have a go at that. Though I suspect that in the first year there will be so few flowers that it won't be practical to try to cross pollinate as the flowers don't last long. Also the flowers will be late and you need time for fruit to form.

Incidentally I already have one or two fruits on my B. arborea. So anyone is welcome to seeds from that. B. arborea is a white flowered species, and is one of the few Brugmansias that isn't self sterile. So it can fertilise itself and it will come true. It also has the habit of continuous low level flowering, rather than flushes of high level flowering.

Talking of flushes. I have a lovely yellow one, bought so cheaply as a small plant that it has no name. This is the one I have shown in pictures above. It has flowered in one big flush with 30 of more blooms at a time - and has been doing that continuously now for 10 weeks. I am amazed.

 

Ooooooo yes please and Thank You!! They are just amazing plants! The reason I got interested in them was because of GC. I bought the yellow and a pink from eBay but the pink one didn't make it. It wasn't until this year that I got flowers on the yellow one but that was worth waiting for and now I'm a real fan!

 

No problems Catztail. I have got 22 Brugs growing from seed, so I am going to wait and see what colours arise. The joy of seed is that you don't know what's coming.

 

Wow, you must have a heated greenhouse? I bring all my really tender plants in the house over winter. Lucky I have quite a few wide window sills!

 

Hi Peter
I bought my first 6 Brugs from Reads in Norfolk about 5/6 yrs ago but I believe they have ceased stocking conservatory type plants and are moving site ..

Dave

 

Actually Catztail, they were all raised in the house. I have got a light box - which is even better than a greenhouse. So I started them off in January. The only problem is that they outgrew the box very quickly - so they were spread round my windowsills.

Dave - never heard of Reads. I have only ever seen the one Brugmansia on sale in a garden centre, which is the yellow one that I bought last year. I would love to have a site close that sold all these sorts of things. Perhaps thats one reason I like seeds.

 

I do as well! The garden centers all carry the bog standard plants with maybe a few unusual plants. I end up ordering a lot online and to be honest have been quite pleased. The problem is the postage cost which can really jack up the cost. Plus you don't get the pleasure of snooping around.......

 

Just had another Brug flower for the first time ..



Dave

 

WOW! Beautiful! Does it smell as good as it looks?

 

It is scented but not as strong as some ..

Dave