Congratulations! It's a beautiful plant and the foliage looks really healthy. The upward movement of the foliage at night is normal and is called photonasty. You will also notice that the scent of your brugs is stronger at night. Many of mine have no fragrance during daylight hours but do smell at night. There's so many different fragrances with brugs. The only ones I don't care for are the ones that smell like baby powder. I also can't keep blooming brugs in the house or even the garage because the smell permeates the house. I love the scent when they are outside but can't stand it in an enclosed space.

Thanks for the info Karyn! I definitely notice a strong fragrance at night from the Brugs and none during the day. I also dont like the smell of the ones that smell like Baby Powder, but fortunately mine (ember glow) doesn't have that scent!
-Alex

Alex I've noticed you on several of the forums that I'm on. Are you a fellow tropical plant nut that lives in zone 7 but grows plants suited more for zones 9 and warmer?

Yes Karyn, I definitely am! Palms, brugs, Plumerias, and Bananas are just a few tropical plants that I try to grow! I grow some tropical plants that are marginal to a zone 7 and lots of others that are at least one 9 or higher!
What tropicals do you grow the most of?
-Alex

I probably have more passifloras then anything, a lot of brugs. I'm down to about a half dozen plumerias. At one point I had about 40, not including seedlings, but decided to dedicate space to other things. If they could be cut back at the end of the season I'd probably still be growing them but they took up too much space over the winter. I probably began cutting back on plumerias about 5 years ago. I also cut back on tropical fruit trees for similar reasons. Lots of strophanthus, jasmines, gardenias, clerodendrums, thunbergias, stapelias, huernias, orbeas, ceropegias, caudiciforms, hoyas, and 1 or 2 of many other varieties. I don't grow palms or common houseplants.

Almost everything goes into one of the greenhouses for the winter. I hate Oct and May when everything gets moved. I do grow zone appropriate plants in the yard but spend more time with tropicals and sub-tropicals. All are container grown but I do sink some during the growing season. I wish I was in zone 10 but then I'd be complaining that I couldn't grow peonies, lilacs or spring bulbs. lol

Where are you located?

I live in NYC. I have to admit, pretty much everything I have in the ground that I spend time growing really is marginal at best. The only plants I grow in the ground that I actually see around here is a Crape Myrtle, a Fig, a Camellia, coneflowers, and an eastern prickly pear. All the rest are tropicals planted in the ground for the summer, or palm trees planted in the ground all year long (and then my potted tropical plants also!).
I really like brugs because they are so easy to store indoors! I forgot I had a brug for most of the winter and then I found it behind my other plants. I gave it some water and it started growing leaves within a week. I dont think I have many other tropical plants that need such little care during the winter!

I want a greenhouse very badly, but living in NYC means that space is a big problem, so all my plants go in the house and its getting pretty crowded. I think my least favorite time of the growing season is early April and mid October for the same reason as you (plus my yard looks pretty bare until about late June).

I was happy to see my Frostproof gardenia blooming again today (second bloom of the week), and since its planted next to my brugmansia, they both work together to make the side of my yard EXTREMELY fragrant at night! I was taking a few pics of the plants tonight and as soon as I got within 20 feet of my Brug, I smelt it! Im definitely planting more in the same spot next season!

I dont think I would complain much about living in a zone 10. I would probably have spring bulbs growing in the dead of winter (and storing them in their own fridge or something for the rest of the year) and the tropicals would of course be outside all year long! It would be like a vacation every time I walk into my yard (without the worry of having to bring them inside every winter and the wait until July for them to start getting really lush looking). I think there is only 4 months of the year that I can say my yard looks very lush and tropical, but its all worth it!

-Alex