I will never forget the one who got me started...His name was Nelson and he lived in Alabama. This was 4 or 5 years ago that he'd seen me over on the plant exchange, he sent me some great cuttings, and gave me instructions on what to do with them. I havn't seen him on the forums in quite a while, but will always remember the guy who got me hooked!

Thank you Karma. That was a very nice thing to say and I sure appreciate that you feel that way. I ain't nothing special. I just have a big mouth. lol!

I got my first two brugs Charles Grimaldi and Frosty Pink right here on GW in 1997. Brenda Killough was her name ... from Texas. I was not happy with my trade because the plants were not hardy in my TN. environment. I threw them in the basement and ignored them not caring if they lived or died. When Feb. came I went down to the basement to get some veggie seeds started. I felt sorry for the brugs cause they were dead looking and I gave them a little drink of water. Within 2 days they started growing like mad. When the weather warmed up I started feeding them and by mid May they were loaded with the most beautiful flowers I'd ever seen. I was hooked. :)

I was at a meeting in Wash. DC and doing my usual 'follow my nose' thing. One of the small gardens near the mall had big brugs in huge pots. I then found one in a local MN garden center in one of those little bitsy boxes (think it was EP) and decided to take a flyer. That must have been 5-6 years ago &I guess I'm up to a couple of dozen now. What with wintering over I guess I'm gonna have to get more selective now (HA!!!)

Judithw,

Started me on them. We were trading something else and then I saw she had a trade up for Brugs and I followed her instructions and checked out the FAQ and some pics and posts and I think I'm hooked. So if I get addicted to Brugs it will be all her fault.

Someone had sent me some extra brug seeds and I was going to pass them on but then after coming here I figured I'd try to sow them and see what luck I get. I still haven't tried to sow the seeds Judith ended up sending me but I hope they germinate too.

MBT

I was wandering around a nursery a number of years ago and came across the first brug I had ever seen....amazing shape, amazing bouquet, and decided that I should try one in spite of its excessive cost. Then I started to research them here on the garden web. I must admit there have been a lot of sources of very valuable information here in this web site. One source really stood out, and that was my soon-to-be friend, Ruth Ann. She was also starting out with her passion, and I followed her lead, and gleaned so much valuable information from her that I have been able to continue with this gardening passion. (I think my wife gets a little jealous from time to time, as I now have brugs in the bedroom, brugs in the living room, brugs in the dining room, brugs in the sewing room, brugs in the cold cellar.....and am continuing to "grow the herd".)

Thanks Ruth Ann for all your support. Thanks also to Judith, mantorvillain, Taji, KarmaHT, Rsieminski, TNGreenThumb, Wildcat, Xeramatheum, and the list goes on and on and on.

Have a very happy holiday season, one and all.

I quess you could say that *I* got myself started on brugs, LOL!

I got a catalogue from Native Habitat Ethnobotanicals, and the picture of the Frosty Pink just blew me away! I decided "I've GOT to have that", and---being both cheap and greedy---I ordered three cuttings each of FP, Cypress Gardens, Charles Grimaldi, and something else. They came with NO instructions at ALL, and when I tried calling the company to ask for help---at that time, I'd rooted very few plants at all---all I got was an answering machine, and no one EVER returned my call. (It's been about six years now. *grin*)

So I called a different nursery I'd found that sold rooted brugs, and after talking with their plant propagator, I decided I'd probably wasted my money, they made it sound SO hard to do! Thinks like misting them every 90 minutes, etc. and so on---complete CRAP.

Anyway---in spite of all the over-care I gave them, all three of the Forsty Pink cuttings rooted. (The others all rotted---no wonder!)

I still have one of the orignial Frosty Pink rootballs, and it's still producing a 6'+ trunk every year here in North Alabama. Of course, it has lots of clones dotted around the yard, and many, many people here at GW have clones of it, too. (*grin*)

Then Susie French send me a double-handful of ROOTED brug cuttings, labeled just 'white', 'pink', and 'yellow'. They too are now all over my yard, my momma's yard--and GW.

Since then, I've added in several named cultivars, but the majority of the (too many, some say) brugs growing on my 4.5 acres are still those original 'starter' plants.Last fall I counted 65 main trunks...

The first brug I ever saw was in a White Flower Farm catalog in maybe 1995? If my memory serves me right, they where apx. $15.00 - $20.00 per plant, and listed by color, white, pink, and yellow. I fell in love them, but did not order any, I thought they were too expensive.

The next year Park Seed Co. had just a plain pink suaev. in their catalog for about $10.00, so I bought one. What arrived was a very limp green tip cutting, that was not really rooted in a peat pellet. Needless to say it died. So I got one the next year, and it grew like gang busters. I feel in love with the large fragrant blooms.

A year, maybe two, later I ordered Tropical Sunset from LBJ. The company was having major problems obtaining plants to fufill orders, because of things beyond their control. For my patience in waiting for my order, I received several brugs free of charge.

Because of her (Taji's) generous gift, I was able to make several trades that fall. I even made my first crosses that year.

It goes without saying, I am now certifiable. But like Karma said, back in that day, Taji's website was the site to go to for brug information.

Also, I have to say that brugs have led me to many kind people, who later became trustworthy friends.

And think about this, the brug hybridizing program is in its' infancy here in the US. Europe is many years ahead of us. So just imagine what wonderful, new hybrids that are still to come our way.

Mr. David ... hugs.

This girl is pretty much out of the brug scene and must move on to other things in life. My new years resolution. It's been hard to just let go but I must. I wish everyone the best and thank you for everything. I won't be back at GW but I will always fondly remember that it all started here. ... love v

Best of Wishes Taji in the upcoming New Year and all your adventures!

My SIL SIL went to a horticultral class and had brought plants home from graduation.She got a dauntra& her mom got the angel trumpet.I had gotton cuttings from her dauntra& later on cuttings from the angel trumpet(Super nova).I got my 1st GW cuttings of dr suess& charles g from David Cassidy.I've not seen him post for a few years& this was in 99.I have some of Judiths frosty pink.so her frosty really DOES get around as I've inherited her gene of planting off springs& trade quiet a bit of it for trade& postage as well(and STILL currently have some available!)
I currently have plans for adding another brug bed( new plants gotta go somewhere's!)I really enjoyed useing cordless saw-saw durring cutting time and will have even MORE plants to practice on next year!

I think it's my mom's fault (lol). She had one in the backyard (unamed yellow probably suav.) It was huge and had gobs of flowers many times per year. I wasn't crazy about them yet then, and didn't get any of my own until I was out on my own and saw an unamed pink in at Stein's with blooms all over it. Then it was like, "hey that looks just like the one we had growing up!" So, I bought the pink and found out I could grow more from cuttings , then took cuttings off my mom's yellow, and then.... well now I got more than I know what to do with lol but I still don't have all the varieties and I'm hooked.
Nice thread idea
~SJN

I did it to myself.

Around 1997, I found them in 'sleeves'at a local nursery. They didn't know much about them, there was next to nothing on the internet either about them and as far as info for Canadian growers, well, it was almost non existant.
Now they are an addiction LOL.

I must give credit to GW member GreenElephant (Jim). At last spring's plant swap he sent me home with a few cuttings of his name-unknown pink brug. I had never seen one outside a greenhouse, but decided to give it a try. I found out about the GW Brug Forum & came here to see what all I could find out. It's been quite an adventure so far, and promises to continue that way. Never has any plant so thoroughly addicted me! There are 17 potted brugs in my garage this winter and I have 10 or more new varieties started from cuttings...when I think of the ones I don't have, but want, it's scary! I'm hoping to meet up with more brug addicts in the Puget Sound area to share our addictions & our brugs!

Patrick

Another Brug. lover by the name Brugie or Shirley sent me my first brug. cuttings. Now I usually grow anywhere from 60-90 brugs. in any given season. Every year I say I am going to cut back, but then I start planting the seeds, and you know the rest.

Patricia

I was staying with my daughter near Riverside, CA. She saw a yellow brug in Sunset magazine and said she wanted one. I bought two cuttings on Ebay and got two starts and two cuttings from someone on a brug forum. Of the six plants, four lived. I gave two of them to a friend and kept two. It was very hot and windy at my daughter's. I had to water the plants 2-3 times a day and keep them out of the wind. I had lots of problems with spider mites and had to treat the plants monthly for them. Leaves would fall off and within a few days the plants looked great again. They never did bloom. I moved back to Oregon in Oct, and my daughter didn't give the plants the tender loving care that I did. One died and the other they planted in the ground in a protected corner. I don't know if it survived or not. They have since sold that house. I got four cuttings from a lady named Ruby in Texas, last month. They all rooted easily and are now growing in my kitchen bay window. I'm anxious to see how they grow here in Oregon. I'm going to leave one of them in the ground and see if it survives next year. I want to get somemore colors soon.

FallsCity, you should do well in the Valley area. I won't leave a young plant in the ground the first year in this area. We are up north of you a ways and bring our all in.

It was so long ago I can't recall how or who got me started. But for me I just have a few types and don't venture beyond those. It's like any other collection with out an end, unless you draw that line yourself.

LPN...that's the greastest testimony to will power I've ever heard from a brug enthusiast! You must be good at resisting temptation. :))

Patrick

My addiction was also via White Flower Farm In 1995. I thougt that was it!! I still have the origial plants from that mail order. I have been growing and evolving with the brugs since 2000 when I could see some change. What a change! we have the most beautiful plants now , because people had insight that we didn't and the Brugmansia became a plant that we all desired, and loved in our gardens! I love the array of different colors that we have now, and most of all they are very deer resistant!.

Belinda

Karma didn't mention what year she was introduced to Brugs so I don't know if I have her beat; My first experience was in the mid to late 80's at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Mark Dimmit the Curator of their Botanical dept. was growing some in the aviary and hummingbird exhibits, (still don't know what Brugs have to do with the Sonoran Desert other than they're related to Daturas that are abundant in the Tucson area).

Mike

In 1999 I went to an end of season bbq at one of the other football parents homes and they had the most beautiful plant I had ever seen and the smell was unbelievable. I didn't know what the plant was but kept looking and I saw one that looked the same on Ebay in the spring of 2003 and of course had to buy it. I have since learned more about them and have a total of 5 others besides the first one. I still haven't had a bloom on the first one but have been able to enjoy some of the newer ones and am hooked. I wish I had asked what that one was, but then I wouldn't have had an excuse for trying all these others.

Huachuma, you have me beat!

Many, many moons ago (probably about 1996, I was reading Southern Living...and there was a picture, taken at Biltmore in Asheville in NC...It was a door and on both sides of the door were these beautiful flowering plants...it looked to be gazillions of these flowers just hanging perfectly...they were brugs.
I cut that pic out just knowing it was going to take forever to find one...
I live in a very rural area and my Mom and I happened to go to a small nursery not too far from home and low and behold...they had some...I bought my first that day - no name...and I still have a 'clone' of that plant...that was in the Spring of 1998 and my addiction has been furthered by trading on GW and purchasing. There's about 15 or 16 different ones in the yard, now. I love 'em...
AT

My first 4 brugmansias came from Le Bon Jardener in 2002. Davidwv the same thing happened to me. The generosity indeed made up for the wait. If Tajhi is the same lady from that nursery(Vicky Harding from Knoxville Tennessee?) then people do not realize how much good she has been to brugmansia education. Her first website got me addicted. There would not be Abads or Bgi if it was not for her ideas. KarmaHappytoes is right.

Thanks HostaKing, some folks do appreciate her.

The long and winding road. Years ago there was a photo spread of Bob Clark's garden (Oakland CA) that had a lovely Charles Grimaldi brug. I was HEAVILY seed trading at the time - the old Compuserve then here when it began - still careful to obey our aggie laws and only trade plants with CA folks (aside - CA is the largest producer of food in the nation - why mess with that?) then found someone named Susi in SO CA (she's very active in the garden clubs) willing to ship me a handful of brug cuttings. From there I found Susan in San Leandro who hosts plant swaps and she let me get cuttings of hers AND, in that lusting mode, had called Cal Hort and found they had some plants, at the time, for $9 at their sales. Someone mentioned DVC (community college) plant sales prior to my gettig to Cal Hort - went there and snagged a few in four inch pots for $1 each (and have been desperately addicted to DVC plant sales since).

Sad note - for the first time, I got white flies this year (aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!) and they love brugs. Here's hoping I can dent their population with winter sprays.

I went to my insurance agent to make a payment and the secretary and I got to talking about our gardens. She told me about these big dangly flowers that her Dad grows. She said he puts pieces of them in water and makes new ones to give away. I asked for a couple of pieces and the next time I went to pay my premium she had them for me. I looked them up and found out what they were and fell hopelessly in love.

I walked out of a ice cream shop one night in Maui and followed my nose to the park across the street. I knew it wasn't Plumeria and I had to find out,I was led to a bush tree about 12 feet tall with the most glorious yellow bells hanging from this unusual tree I've ever seen!And the smell was that only of what I imagined Angels could bring.I was told by a local that it was an Angel Trumpet! This blew me away...I went home thinking it was a tropical that I couldn't grow:( Then a few years later I recieved a catalog in the mail and low and behold there it was on the back cover the same color and it came in different colors too! And the funny thing about this is that I'd never recieved any flower catalogs at all! So I like to think that the powers that be...heard my silent prayer.That was 20 years ago:) ***Suzanne

Hmmmm,I had to locate my other brain cell and think about this one for a while.I think my first two brugs,Dr Seuss and Frosty,came from Arlene Howard.The next ones came from Gloria Lessner and Bonnie Vaughn.By this time the obsession was in full swing.I began to trade with some members of this board including kht and judith.Arlene and Bonnie are still active at BGI while Gloria has left us for a better place.It's been my priveledge some really great people in the brug community.

Hey Ruth Ann...LOL...Guess you started something here in Ontario. Without you I'm sure I would never have known about my wonderful Brugs. :0) 3? maybe even 4 years now and I just can't get enough. Thank you Ruth Ann!
Penny

"Wildcat In" is who got me started,i got my starts from other traders, but his pics &to hear him talk about brugs, he was no is so good . my hats off to him,thanks wildcat,molly

Here in Florida, Angel Trumpets often get a bad rap, usually due to some irresponsible teenagers trying to get high. I've always known what they were, and occasionally saw them in people's yards, but didn't give it much thought. I wasn't impressed at the time.

Well, two years ago, I was renting the second floor apartment in a 100 year old house. Downstairs lived a fairly nice young couple and the woman grew angel trumpets all along the driveway next to the house. This house had one of those driveways where you parked behind the house and she had about 7 angel trumpet "trees" growing like nobody's business!

Well, as I would come home at night, all those angel trumpet trees would bloom these HUGE, beautiful, gloriously smelling flowers. The flowers seemed to glow their own magical light in the darknes and the scent would float up to my apartment on the second floor. It was intoxicating.

Well this woman did absolutely nothing to these plants and they grew like gangbusters. I thought, "If she can grow them this beautiful, I can too." So, when I got my own house, I started with a generic pink/peach brug I bought at a nursery, then I started ordering them online, and now I'm hooked.

I love Brugs... but my story is very tame. Canadian Tire in London Ont.
Found a "box" with a Brug for about $5, 10 years ago. Looked like an interesting picture.It was a stick about the diamensions of a pencil. I had no idea!
6 months later - it was 6 ft high - and I found 2 others of different colours...
I lost them a few years back - but found replacements at the Bloomin' Gardener south of Windsor, Ont.
They are starting to sprout with last months heat.
I am willing to trade in a few months. I have pink yellow and white... and have a source for varigated whites. I will be trimming and rooting in April/May.

DARLENE_TN is who got me started....she sent me some cuttings for postage and I potted them up and they grew like crazy! I have 5 now and I am always looking for more, as soon as I can afford more I will be getting more! Can't stop! I ordered 2 from a young lady in Louisana and I can not find her site anywhere! I wonder did the storm mess up her lovely green house of brugs...if so I will keep her in my prayers! Oh yeah and by the way no one in my neighborhood has any ! At time I would have a the least three cars at a time asking ,"What are those beautiful Plants!?"

The Garden Pooter!

I got started in 2001 when I was perusing this web site and saw pictures of them in the Galley section. I then put a message on asking how I could get started and Juan who lived in Puerto Rico sent me 5 cuttings. Since then I have about 15 potted that are huge I cut them back in the fall and bring them into my unheated basement and they return the following spring. I have rooted cuttings and have given them to anyone who wants them I also have had other people on this site who have sent me cuttings. Living in upstate NY it gives me such a tropical feeling in the summer. Thanks to everyone on this site I have been able to get all the answers to any question I may have.

went to Hawaii six years ago and saw the big brugs trees. I was amazed at the beauty. They are not popular in Sav. Last Spring saw one in nursery, bought it, negelected it and it grew and bloomed abundantly. In the summer I bought a yellow standard. They are unnamed. I became hooked! They are planted in the ground and now coming up again. Have several cuttings rooted that I got for postage or trade. Will have to grow them in pots. Don't think I will ever have too many. I have an enclosed porch where I will keep them next winter.

I am fairly new to the brug scene, I just got started last year. Hubby and I were at a new greenhouseand as we walked thru I saw the most amazing tree,even to trmrmber it now takes my breath away. I had to know what that tree was!! I saw the price before anything else.. over 200$ (gulp) I read that it was a bruggie and went and found some cuttings and like everyone else I became hooked! Now I have many more, and am always looking for different types. We have 20 acres and 3 of them are naked, but not for long (wink):)

Who got me started? Why you did, KHT, and a lovely lady named Barbara in Hayward, California. That was probably seven years ago, give or take a year or two. And they're still my favorites of everything that I grow.

Jenna

Ruth Ann
Perhaps you remember there where two women in British Columbia, one was Liz the other I forget, perhaps Jean. They where both growing and selling cuttings of Brugmansia.
I emailed with them a number of times, but the first cuttings that I ever actually grew where from Native Habitat in Vero Beach FLorida. Maybe about 1996.
I live six months in Canada and the other six in FLorida. It makes growing Brugmansia more difficult. I do lose some every year.
I find, the plants I grow in Canada, in large pots, which overwinter in the basement, survive .

In FLorida, generally the plants are in bloom about the time I leave for the north, (April) and I cut them back. My gardens are not watered all summer, other than when it rains. First thing when returning to FLorida I cut them back again.
Ruth Ann though you, yourself are a marvel. and have given much encouragement and knowledge, to many of us growing Brugmansia in Canada. Cuttings and plants as well

I'm waiting for a ride somewhere so I'll resurrect this thread!

In 1993/94 I was working at this plant nursery in Vista, CA called Exotica. It had rare plants from everywhere all over the place (fruits mainly but some kinda unusual ornamentals). At the time I was double majoring in botany and music and I was very interested in ethnobotany. I knew that daturas were complex and used by people around the world so I was kinda intersted in these tree forms (at that time I think we were calling them tree daturas but I dunno if we were just behind the times or what). Anyway, thinking back it is kinda funny because the nursery manager who I was coming in to replace was training me and they had a few kinds -just marked "white", "orange" and this double white "Double White" that no one really thinks is all that these days. Well, back them this was super super rare I guess and she tells me "don't sell the Double Whites for anything less than $60 IF it's a small plant" And I'm all WHAT?! No one has that kinda money to drop on plants. Which is funny cause now I hear of people dropping a couple hundred bucks on rare plants but that was outrageous to me then.

I didn't have a place of my own right then (and couldnt afford them even at the super reduced wholesale price of $60) so I'd go to the dessert and check out the jimson weed. I finally got my mom a double white which is still at her house and is quite old now. When they started appearing in home depot it was pretty weird. And when the double white did, it was like the fourth sign of the apocalypse or something.

I can't say I am addicted to them per se. Although I do have as many as I can get onto my yard and still be able to walk out there. A lot of people have been pretty helpful. I think Monika Gottschalk the hybridizer from Germany is really helpful with all her info online and her willingness to correspond, post and publish. I've met a few botanists in Germany and the Netherlands who have been helpful as well. And Strybing Arboretum and UC Berk have been helpful with maintaining the species Brugs and making them available. I sitll think I'm sorta a newby though cause everyone else seems to know so much more about the Brugs in particular. I still really suck at virus ID.

Well my ride is still not here but I better go!

Ellie...good resurrection! What a fun thread! It's always fun to see why folks become addicted! ....mine was the first view and the first fragrance!! A friend had purchased some tiny little plants via the home shopping network...stuck the noids in the ground and VOILA!! it was love at first sight/smell...Had seen a beautiful HUGE plant on someone's front lawn...didn't know what it was until my friend showed me the picture of what her little plants were going to look like.......I now have three different bruggies in the ground and several cuttings of those plants started in pots. They ARE addictive.....for sure! One of my 'things' is a moon garden ...anything that blooms at night. Bruggies are just a must-have for me!