Hi all, Love brugs. I had a greenhouse years ago and grew about 5 or 6 of them. I purchased one last year about three feet tall but didn't bloom. Will this year as it grew to about 6ft. Then a nursery owner gave me one which she planted in the ground and was about 8ft tall. It was loaded with dbl blooms that start out white then change to orange. I don't know the name of this one either. I'd love to have more of them but don't have the room in the house as the two I have are in 20 inch pots so what I was wondering is if they could be kept in a cool basement in complete darkness or would they not survive in complete darkness? Scott

Here is what I do here in Sayville. My brugs are in 16 to 20 inch pots. In the spring I heel them into the ground (bury the pots about 1/2 way to prevent tipping/falling over). When frost threatens, usually late October, I cut them back, my 8 to 9 foot tall standards become 4 feet tall.........and into my basement they go. There is a bit of light from the basement windows, not much really. Basement is in the lower 60's temperature wise. I give them a half gallon of water once a month, this seems to be enough to keep them going, but, not to get them growing. There might be shoot or two here and there, and I usually get a bloom or two (boy, does the house smell good!). If the shoots get too wild, I just cut them off. Come April 1 I water every other day in the basement, this gets them awake and it is out the door and on the patio for the summer on May 1. Bloom for the 4th of July. Cuttings, I pot them up into 6 inch pots and grow them slowly on my window sill, I stick the cutting into the mix, water the heck out of it, then I keep them dry, minimal water (they will root and become semi-dormant, I really do not have room for them to grow much inside) and will pot them up in the spring. Potting mix is ProMixBX. Feed is Peters 20-20-20 supplemented with Epsom Salts and Milorganite. I feed the Peters weekly. My wood for cuttings, I am picky here, I use the semi hard wood, it is not completely green, not completely brown. Seems to root well, but not rot. Brugs root very easily. Just take it easy with them. I have rooted parts from just the tips to "instant standards" which is a long straight branch shoved into a pot. Just pinch the leaves off the branch which will allow it to root, takes about 3 weeks and you are off and growing. Think of them like little green people, I do. That 12 inch plant in a 6 inch pot will become a 5 foot tall blooming specimen in a 16 inch pot in about 3 months in my yard.

Linda, lol, I use that exact technique to sneak in new plants all the time. The key to making it work is to learn to say with absolute confidence: "Nooo, I've had that one forever." She can't keep track of every one! Chena the two entries that you quoted from the ABADS list I think should be combined. BGI, Dave's Garden, and the Ebay link that Sue just posted all show different pics of exactly the same plant: a white with yellow single Cubensis, which is what it should be. I'll change that at our next update. I think perhaps BGI's listing of "pink" for the color is perhaps a typo, unless someone who has it says it may develop color in perhaps hot weather. SJN, if you got it from TCTopcat, then they should know the exact color; they're the original seedling parent of this one. - Tom

Oh dear. I am a shame to the Brug-Loving community! I love shaping my plants. I even use florist's wire to shape my Nandinas and my Christmas Tree for gosh sakes! So you can imagine my shock at reading this post. All those years of pruning my Precious Brug, whacking off long branches that I felt didn't 'belong', branches that didn't shoot off in the right direction. Pulled down branches and set them with wire so that they would shade my Kalanchoe plants. If one of the thinner branches were touching the Kalanchoe, it got whacked off. Hard, wood branches! And what have I been doing with a total of a ton of branches all these years? The Recycle Bin and out on the curb on Thursday night for pick-up on Friday morning! ACK ACK ACK! Now that I think back, I've probably put thousands of dollars worth of brug cuttings on the curb...ACK ACK ACK! ::sigh::