I have 5 in front of my house, 7 beside my house, and another 7 behind the house,- all mixed in to the regular garden. As you can see I am zone 5 as well. I personally feel that the morning / mid day light is best as it avoids the hot after noon sun. Be all means, amend your soil. With all that sand, you'll get good drainage, but they need some food. I do have to water every day, if it doesn't rain.

Go for it, and W O W your neighbours. They'll turn green with envy, and you may also spark a whole lot of new interest and have some more convert to the brug craz.

Hi Shiollie,

Jroot is right, go for it.

I have 5 large ones planted in my gardens in NW Indiana. I plant them directly in my gardens in May. I am also Zone 5.

And yes, for the 1st month, if it is hot and sunny, I need to water them every day. Then it is ususally every 2nd or 3rd day after the root system gets established. Basically, water anytime they wilt. I really fertilize them a lot and they respond extremely well for me.

As far North as we are, the more sun the better. Mine get full sun all day and do very well. Of course, on hot days they wilt a little, but I just water them and they perk back up.

Then in October, I cut them back and dig them up.

By the way, Datura generally love sandy soil as well.

Good luck!

David

Thanks Jroot and Wildcat! I have them planted right in front of my big picture window ( must be able to see them from inside as well :)) I have amended the soil with composted manure and potting soil and they have done very well in the pots I had them in, they grow fast!One is almost 4 ft tall and the other is about 2 1\2 ft tall, hopfully they will grow large and flower well.

Shiollie,

How did your brugs fare? Were they spectacular? Were your neighbours' curiosity peaked? Were they green with envy? Mine were. Actually today, I just cut several of my brugs down in preparation for winter. Several were over 6 feet tall and loaded with blooms.

Any pictures?

Jroot, I now have five large ones that must be taken up within the next two weeks and brought into my garage. How far should I cut them back? They are all 4-4 1/2 feet tall and just as wide with many, many buds that are about to open. It's going to be hard to cut these babies back.
Thanks!

I know what you mean about being hard to cut these babies back. Today, I filled two large buckets with blooms that I cut off of my plants....pink, white, yellow, peach... I must admit, I left several white brug bushes still standing completely covered with flowers and buds, as they just don't have the scent that I want, and are fairly "ordinary".

I dug up 4 others brugs today, and took cuttings of several others. These cuttings I placed into an old aquarium with a bubbler placed in the garage. Within 3 or 4 days, the white nubbies will be showing, and then I will pot the cuttings up. I believe there is a photo of some of the cuttings already potted up at:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/brug/msg100814116102.html?12

You will note that the cuttings are as large as I can get if I want to make a tree format for next year.

As I mentioned, I also dug up several plants today. Some of these were 6 feet tall, and when potted are taller than I am. I put them into new soil, gave them a thorough watering, and set them in a shady spot for the already existing roots to establish themselves. I believe we are in for another few weeks of fair weather, so they will stay outside until it becomes too cold, and then I'll bring them in to the garage for the cold nights. Later, I'll take the already established plants to the basement where I'll let them go dormant ( in a room that is cool but will not freeze).

The cuttings I will take inside and place in a bright area until the roots have formed, and then I will place them in a sunny location or under lights.

I should have mentioned, make sure you spray with a soapy solution all the leaves (top and bottom) for bugs, and then hose that solution off before bringing them in to the house. You do NOT want an infection of spider mites or mealy bug this coming winter. Do this with your cuttings as well as your potted plants.

With respect to yours, it all depends on the structure you like to see. I have some bushes, and some tree forms. Personally I like the tree forms, so I keep my eyes open for a long straight stem that I can use. Sometimes it is in the middle of a plant, and in that case, I trim off the outer branches and use them for cuttings. Sometimes ( most often ) it is an offshoot from the root that springs forth as straight as an arrow. In this case, I will make a cutting of it.

When cutting back, if you wish to retain the parent plant for next year, be certain that you do not cut beneath the "Y", or you will have to wait much longer to get a bloom. When making cuttings, try to maintain some "Y"'s at the top end, and take the cutting from above the "Y".

When you read the links, you will see what we mean by the "Y". Since you have blooms now, you already will know what the "Y" is all about.

Good luck.

Hi JRoot!! The brugs did great!! They didnt get as big as I wanted but that was my fault. The people across the road came over to see what the wonderful scent was that got carried over to them on a slight breeze.. now they want some!! They did get quite wide with a massive amount of blooms. Out of the 2 I started with I will have about 15 after overwintering them, I was so scared of the frost that I already cut them and have them in the bubbler.. LOL.. I believe in starting early as I have already started my purple Datura too.. My plant room is so full you cant hardly walk thru it. :0 Thanks for asking!!

Shiollie

I was just reading an old email from October when you and JRoot where bringing Brugmansia in. or preparing them for winter.

How did your plants do and now in July of 2006 do you have plants planted in front of your house

Hi Diane, Thanks for asking!! I kept the parent plants in pots over the winter and planted them in ground early this spring. I am getting the first flush of blooms..yummie!!
I took alot of the cuttings and made the tree form out of them and they are doing quite well and also getting a few buds.
I have to admit that when they get planted outside ( the cuttings that is) they really just look like sticks that got stuck into the ground, but within a month they get really nice and bushy at the canopy. I will post some pics later today.

Will be looking forward to your photos.
I have never been one to fertilize any plants much, just keep building up the soil, year to year with compost, etc.

But I have been fertilizing the Brugmansia every week or so, lightly, at a time, and it does make a difference, for sure.

Here are the promised pics..
The first is when I had just potted them up from the bubbler. They dont look like much now do they?? ;)
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This is what they look like now.. much better!!
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And this last one is one of the parent plants, this is the pink, this one sulked all last year and only gave a couple of blooms.... I measured the bud yesterday and it was 5 1/2 in.
{{gwi:504222}}
Enjoy!