Brugmansia hybrid ‘Charles Grimaldi.’ Incredibly voluptuous, scented trumpets…on a plant that rivals the hybrid tea rose for awkward growth and ugly legs.
Just haven’t found the right approach yet to placing these subtropical shrubs in a zone 10 landscape, where they can bloom nearly year-round.
To me, a gawky brug cries out for the structural boost of a container. A huge, preferably bottomless container, so it can root into the ground.
In which case it’s very nearly drought tolerant, as opposed to the daily wilt it gets in a pot.
Brugs: a love/hate relationship with a complicated subtropical beauty. Nothing like their scent on a warm summer night.
Someone in my neighborhood has a really nice one they keep in a pot and overwinter. I have to find out if they did it with or without light, if it was without I could pull it off too. I really like the color on yours! So warm.
Or perhaps an underplanting of something of substance and girth to hide the gawky lower limbs? Beautiful photo!
Ryan, I’ve got a friend on the East Coast that overwinters her brugs and will try to get some info. I know they go semi-dormant. Some people try to keep them going under lights, other just bag them, keeping them dark. I’ll see what I can find out.
Grace, a pool of Senecio mandraliscae maybe? I really like brugs when they’re planted high, growing out of a retaining wall.
I hacked my 15′ brug down to about 5′ and it has all come back (of course) as a huge full globe with foliage almost down to the ground. That will change, naturally, but I think I could give it a hard whacking every year and get that effect. The question is, do I want to do that hacking every year?
And what a gorgeous photo!
Hoov, I saw a brug draped over a six-foot wall yesterday. No plant visible, just blooms. I wonder if it’s too brittle to espalier?
If I were attempting a Brug espalier I would leave whatever was right against the wall and cut off everything else. Would take fanatical maintenance, don’t you think?
Another reason to roadtrip to Mendocino! There are at least four awesome Brugmansia sanguineas (one in a big container)in town. I like them all, but LOVE the red one.