Gardenpoppy, whoever complained about the paypal was a fool. Waiting around for snail mail means the sender has to take care of the plant longer, which is not always easy. I have had plants I offered for postage & the trader mailed late  they were bad & I was out of backup plants by the time I got the SASE. It put me in a bind when the person should have paid promptly. The person also shorted me $5.00 on shipping which I ended up paying for. Had the payment been paypal it would have been easily resolved. Paypal is the best way to go with plant SASEÂs, & the person was blatantly wrong to complain especially when your offer was so generous. If the person had bought online, their cost would have been much more. Sorry you are out of brugs  I hope the offensive e-mailer does not stop you from offering them in the future.

What a beautiful flush of blooms Clare. I just love the versicolor's they always seem to put on a big flush of blooms all at once. It must smell heavenly at your place during the night. Thanks for sharing that beauty.

I'm making a new tropical garden in a different part of my yard,& I'm excited to have the winter time to plan & start some new plants. A friend has a rice paper pup waiting for me and a pot of bamboo Nigra. I've ordered a Thai Giant colocasia, which looks very exciting. I hate to ask, but does anyone have a teeny-weeny brug cutting I could have? I'll send postage, or even my eldest son (and he's cute). All I have for trade right now is white datura metel, which is very beautiful. I'm soaking the seeds to see if they are viable. In spring I will have tons of Euphorbia Chariakis Wolfenii, one of my favorite plants that grows like weeds from self-sowing.

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.