Mystery structure on brugmansia --- bloom?

yeah, it's only because I'm really curious about the first brug I've ever had and I have heard so much about the scented blossoms that I go to these lengths with it. Or if I had a zillion other plants i wouldn't bother but it's just so cool to watch it produce the blossom --- I'm the original poster on this thread, asking if a certain never before seen (by me) structure on the brug was a bloom-pod --- and that was over four weeks ago. At least one of them will come to fruition --- I'm optimistic --- I just measured the length of the petals not including the curly protrusions : 22cm.

 

Every time I give it articial light, it drops a few little leaves --- strange. The growth rate of the bloom has increased --- 22 cm now. The petal tips are turning yellow.

This is cool, I like watching new blossoms unfurl. It's taken a while, but that new 2mm structure that I couldn't identify (starting this thread with the question) has finally started to come to fruition.

I'm glad I took up plants as a passtime, they're better than pets because they are more independent (cactii handle prolonged neglect very well, haha), and if it becomes inconvenient to keep them or they start to die u just dispose of them, but the main benefit of growing plants is seeing and smelling these blossoms unfurl. They are truly things of beauty. I'm looking forward to the scent.
:)

 

I'm finished with my variegated Brugmansia. It toppled over one too many times in the container, so I'm cutting it up into sections to be rooted. I may do the same to B. sanguinea. I have 3 nice White Brugs that stood up really well during the few days of frost last week and need to be re-potted ASAP. More work on my already busy fall season.

Cheers, LPN.

 

My brug has been put to "rest" in it's garage home for the winter. After 1 frost, most of the leaves dropped and my bloom will have to wait until next year :-(

As you can see, it's a good thing my car is tiny!

 

I never got to smell the scent. I guess they only make scent when conditions are optimal. I couldn't fool it by bringing it in on frosty nights --- it knew winter's coming. My neighbor brutally pruned hers right down to maybe a fifth of it's flowering height --- do you have to do that? Can't you just let whatever is going to fall off, go ahead and fall off by itself without cutting off so much of the solid, woody parts?

Now I'm focusing on my stubborn cactus seeds that don't want to sprout. If heat and moisture is what does these guys, then my latest setup is guaranteed to make them pop --- sterilized, fast-draining sand-and-coir mix that is incandescant light bulb-heated. I measured the temp of the sand at a constant 28C, 100% humidity. I've had some of these seeds in similar but not quite so warm conditions for over a month now and nothings happened. We make jokes about what the heck kind of "desert" these things come from where they have months of absolutely humid conditions --- must be some kind of swamp-cactus, haha :)
Any higher moisture requirements and they'll have to be re-named as the 'aquatic-cactus'.

 

If your neighbor didn't cut back that Brug, old man winter surely would. Don't let ground frost penetrate downward, by either muching or artifical heat source. Start watering and fertilizing once spring returns.

Any catci I've grown from seed (mainly Opuntia) has done so without too much assistance from me.
I scatter the seed on the coarse mix and very lightly cover with more of the same. I keep them covered until they sprout. I've only done this during spring and summer with no artifical heat, allowing temps to flucuate day and night naturally.

Cheers, LPN.

 

Hmmm, that's interesting about the brug. I have a kind of vestibule area that I can put it in over winter to keep it from being exposed to any freezing temps but it's windowless. If the choice is either a lit-but-frosty place or completely dark-but-warm place, what would you choose? Maybe I should just bring it in the dark-but-warm place and not water it --- what do you think?

Oh, and here's the 'money-shot' inside the bloom --- if you dnload the full-size version you see an incredible amount of detail. I'm guessing it's a male plant from my very limited knowledge of plant sexuality because I can see the pollen, but no little waiting-to-be-fertilized seeds anywhere. Will it make seeds? Is it the kind of plant has male and female organs on seperate plants or both on the same plant?

 

The first bloom was a disappointment because the outer casing was damaged and the edges of it started to turn brown. This is the second blossom. It's just starting to open. 80 percent of the leaves dropped off the brug, including most of the smaller blooms that hadn't opened yet but there's still this one and one more, and because the whole thing is so much smaller now, I moved it inside next to the window.

 

My place smells incredibley good right now --- and that's just from these two blossoms. Wow. I wish I'd brought it it in on that windy night and all those little blooms hadn't gotten blown off. After these two I think that's it, I'll stop feeding it and let it go dormant. I wish there was some way to chemically duplicate this scent. Oh well, til next season.
:)

 

I cut all my Brugmansia back quite hard, and potted up some cuttings. I'll be moving the potted ones into my crawl space for winter this weekend. The ones planted out will be left to there own again this year. Next year for these beauties to shine.

Cheers, LPN.