I have a brug cutting that has just formed it's first bloom, and although it's only 15mm or so long at this point, I'm really hoping I might be able to get it to blossom. My question is --- how cold sensitive are brugs? Should I leave it outside as long as the temperature stays above freezing? Or, should I bring it inside right away?
I'd keep it out as long as you can. Last winter my brug cutting even kept some of it's leaves all winter long while in the garage. I've known people to have theirs bloom right up to when the leaves start dropping from the cold nights.
How cold is too cold for a brug, though? Freezing or above freezing? I read they are native to the west side of Chilean/Peruvian Andes up to 3000m elevation, so you'd think they'd be able to withstand pretty cool weather. However, everyone says it's 'a tropical', which i always thought meant hot 'n steamy conditions, but technically I suppose 'tropical' just means a band of latitude between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer so if there was a plant native to the top of a really tall mountain that was so high that it was freezing most of the year, technically the plant would still be "tropical", even though it's evolved for a below freezing cold season. Or maybe the term tropical has a completely different meaning by convention in the field of botany.
I grow a couple of them (one yellow, the other pink) outside planted in-ground. They'll freeze down in winter and re-emerge in late spring without any mulching in mild winters. Anything below about -6c (20F) for more than a couple of nights and mulching is recommended. It's easy to think they've expired as they are quite late to start in our area. You can encourage an earlier start and more growth with warm, fertilized waterings. Some species may never recover from freezing. Cheers, LPN.
