Any takers?
Are those Culebra flowers or hybrids?
What kind of Brugs - and is there any viable pollen left in them?
Unless the pollen was frozen, its not viable any longer. You can use a q-tip to collect the pollen and then simply freeze for a few years though.
Umm actually it doesn't have to be frozen... it can be kept dried at room temperature as well. The "killer" of Brug pollen is more often moisture and subsequent bacteria, mold, etc.
I use cigarette rolling papers to collect pollen from mine (esp. when one is in bloom but I want to cross to another that isn't yet in bloom) and then after letting them air-dry (covered to keep dust and other airborne particles out), I seal up the paper and write the name of the species.. sometimes a filename included if from a specific or unique bloom... leave them in a warm, dry area for awhile longer and then stash them away until ready for use. So far reports are that it will keep like that near indefinitely...
Ahh, I must confess that is a new method to me. I can see that you like Brugmansia though. What species do you have? I know there are a great many hybrids out in the market. A pure species is often hard to find, especially when dealing with Brugmansia aurea. Have you had any luck with setting seed to any Culebra? I personally like many hybrids. One of my favorites is Rhapsody.
http://www.brugmansia.us/galleries/main ... temId=3499 (http://www.brugmansia.us/galleries/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=3499)
http://www.brugmansia.us/galleries/main ... temId=1750 (http://www.brugmansia.us/galleries/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=1750)
Another favorite of mine. Georgia Peach...if you had some Rothkirch pollen it might be worth putting some on those hybrids as they both have some aurea in their genetics. Of course they both have some versicolor as well.
No experience with Culebra... and I found out pretty quick that I'm a bit of a "traditionalist"... I actually seem to lean more towards one particular plant than any other... a B. suaveolens 'White'... I tend to avoid yellows and reds (the latter in part because of the environmental conditions best suited to them) but love the whites, creams, salmons and pinks... I love a good gradient and the only reason some of the almost-orange hued ones have been allowed to stay is because of a metallic or similar type sheen to their blooms. Not really pearlescent... something else. I can post the urls for the pictures/slideshows if you want to see what I'm talking about but can honestly say that the photos don't do them justice.
This is my "iffy" list - by iffy I mean I can't at this time guarantee all specimens are alive. Rough winter and winter-into-spring transition for them this go around. It all began with an early frost last winter... I don't even want to think about the plants (not just Brugs) that were lost/died... made me want to puke...
Ecuador Pink
B. Suaveolens 'White' (honestly, probably my favourite)
B. Suaveolens 'Pink' (iffy at best)
Isabella
Creamsickle (iffy)
Enchanted Double White (iffy at best)
Valley Peach
Pink Beauty (iffy at best)
Cypress Gardens (likely dead)
Jean Pasko
Peaches & Cream - B. versicolor variegata (having a rough transition into spring)
B. hybrid (?) - Halo Peach
B. hybrid - Jean Pasko
B. hybrid Dr. Seuss (was renamed, originally discovered by/named Hetty Kraus - Pasto Columbia)
B. versicolor 'Temple Goddess' (B. versicolor 'Peach' x B. versicolor 'Ecuador Pink', she's giving it the ol' college try in transition)
Creamsickle B. ? f.p.
B. (versicolor?) variegata 'Sunset' (pretty sure she's dead)
B. hybrid f.p. Desiree
B. insignis
B. suaveolens var. 'Frosty Pink' (likely dead)
B. versicolor hybrid f.p. - Herrenhäuser Gärten (iffy)
Ollie
B. suaveolens - Rosa Traum
B. suaveolens hybrid - Betty Marshall (croaked)
Unknown #1 Variegated (thinks it's a Maya, iffy at best)
Isabella #2 (different source, want to see if it can be x'd with another Isabella since this name is synonymous with Golfito and Grand Marnier Pink)
"Big Pink" - (working name, iffy)
UCONN Treasure (iffy/iffy at best)
Unknown #2
"RGUnknowns" of various documentation tags, multiple specimens
Lemony Persnickety (working name)
You should see my "wish list" though LOL
There's a few hybrids I've tried acquiring, but it seems that my favourites are ill-fated... I'm still holding out for a "Mango Crush" (not so unlike Georgia Peach)... if it doesn't happen, then I'm likely to acquire ancestral plants and try breeding for it again... at any rate, Brugmansia are like a larger, less tender, and less noxious Datura for me :) I still love the Dats though... they hold a special place for me in respect to what I will intentionally be cryptic about by referring to "initiations"... take it however you will, just not at face value...
I've heard that you can get double pinks like Desiree by crossing Ecuador pink to Rothkirch. And I agree with you, Herrenhauser can be hard to set seeds on. I typically like the multihybrids that have enough suaveolens to cause a slight flare and enough aurea in them to give them a nice short full bodied shape.
in my list - those noted with "f.p" are in reference to being double-flowers... so genetically speaking, if you take anything that is fp and cross it, you run a fair chance in seed to seedling offspring being doubles...
HG I am told does not like to have her roots disturbed. I began with a cutting last year, she produced meager foliage that accidentally got ripped off (tag slipped down)... I haven't given up on her yet. If she survives through all this with me, she will get the largest pot I can supply and be a container specimen rather than risking digging her up in winters here.
I was just informed low of 30 tomorrow night - I am so hacked.. this warm/cold crap... I don't see a choice but to move every single Brug in a pot onto the deck and try to protect them and keep them warmer there... there's no way I'm bringing them back inside. Even if I were willing, their spaces have already been filled with starter trays and the like...
Crossing a pure aurea to a pure versicolor should also get you a few doubles. If the two are both pink as is Ecuador pink and Rothkirch you should get a few Dark pink double pinks. Doubles are simply candida hybrids or Aurea x Versicolor hybrids which equals candida or f.p. Of course crossing any aurea, versicolor, or candida hybrid to a double hybrid or f.p. can yield a double as well.
This is NOT all-inclusive, but this is a quick reference guide that I use...
//http://jaeda.cat-basket.org/Botanical/BrugmansiaCrossPollinationChart.htm
I don't know how to use the basic html code I have on that page to just have it show up here in the message, so I'm afraid you'll have to actually follow the link unless you can tell me how to do the code in a message..
http://www.spiritplants.org/phpbb/galle ... m=6&pos=25 (http://www.spiritplants.org/phpbb/gallery/displayimage.php?album=6&pos=25)
I'm still searching for some of my photo albums as I used to hybridize as well. Albeit, probably not with as nice of hybrids as you mentioned, but then I think our tastes are a bit different. If I had to have just one or two Brugmansia I would have Brugmansia Culebra, Brugmansia Butterfly, Brugmansia Rhapsody, and Brugmansia Rothkirch. Okay, so I can't count. But with those Brugmansia you have a nice heavy load of aurea genes and still have plenty of versicolor and just a tinge of suaveolens in the mixture. I would have to go with Isabella for a nice old pink which is exceptional in setting seed as well as a pollen donor though if I were going to introduce more suaveolens into the mixture. Of course I am sure that by now there are plenty of nicer multihybrids available with suaveolens in the mixture. Georgia peach has a nice amount of suaveolens in the mixture for instance.
.....and I thought my yellow ones were cool :roll: :roll: :roll:
I can't believe the amount of cross breeding and work that has been done!!!!
Our trees are very fragrant......is there a particular cultivar that has a reputation for rapturous smells?
Suaveolens x aurea hybrids typically have more fragrance in my oppinion than pure versicolor hybrids. I used to have some super fragrant and very large white hybrids from seed, but as I was going for color at the time I eventually got rid of most of these. I had one or two that when a single flower opened up you could smell their intoxicating fragrance from the next yard over. Never mind when they all opened up and you hand hundreds of blooms infiltrating the air.
http://www.brugmansia.us/pollination.shtml (http://www.brugmansia.us/pollination.shtml)
The above is a short movie clip showing how to cross pollinate Brugmansia.
Quote from: "Jupe".....and I thought my yellow ones were cool :roll: :roll: :roll:
I can't believe the amount of cross breeding and work that has been done!!!!
Our trees are very fragrant......is there a particular cultivar that has a reputation for rapturous smells?
You should check out //http://abads.net/Gallery/ - you'll drool.
They vary on fragrance - not just in how or what they smell like, but also on intensity. "Lemony Persnickety" (working name) that I have here has a moderate to strong aroma that is distinctly like Lemongrass Essential Oil with a hint of Rosemary Essential Oil. Whereas my B. suaveolens 'White' has slightly citrusy smell but a lingering after-scent (olfactory version of an after-taste) of natural vanilla. It's the kind of fragrance that you could drink down like the purest water if only it tasted like it smelled... truly intoxicating, almost aphrodesiac(-like). Jean Pasko or maybe it was Halo Peach - both prolific bloomers - were both at it simultaneously for me indoors after they were moved in to winter-over... I couldn't give you a truly isolated description of their fragrances because of the mixture in the air but I can tell you that they also struck me as having a citrus flare. I'd have to check my notes about the fragrances of others.
I'm hoping some test seeds of Datura Missouri Marble germinate and grow well for me - the test is to see if they can defy the allegation that they don't produce true and plants from seeds will not be variegated, but even without variegation I am told that the blooms smell like Peanut Butter.
If you're up for some pictures/slideshow format...
Halo Peach
//http://jaeda.cat-basket.org/Botanical/Brugmansia/HaloPeach.html
Jean Pasko
//http://jaeda.cat-basket.org/Botanical/Brugmansia/JeanPasko.html
non-slideshow ones...
(//http://jaeda.cat-basket.org/Botanical/Brugmansia/LemonyPersnickety1on9-30-2005.jpg)
(//http://jaeda.cat-basket.org/Botanical/Brugmansia/WhiteSuaveolens10-1-2005B.jpg)
They're incredible... and you don't even have to eat them LOL
Jaeda
"has slightly citrusy smell but a lingering after-scent (olfactory version of an after-taste) of natural vanilla. It's the kind of fragrance that you could drink down like the purest water if only it tasted like it smelled... truly intoxicating, - both prolific bloomers - were both at it simultaneously for me indoors after they were moved in to winter-over..."
If more things tasted like they smelled....wow!!! I could eat orange blossoms too....they have that almost vanilla smell...
How could you have those indoors.....wow...that would be almost too mcuh for me!!!
Actually their blooming wasn't planned! I didn't think the Halo Peach was going to bloom that year and the Jean Pasko had already bloomed... things were settling for winter, so I brought all of the Brugs in... well they evidently liked it because within a few weeks they were blooming like mad. I must confess, there were some sinus issues for those of us here for a short time because all of those in bloom were on a dual-level counter that separates the LR from the kitchen and you have to walk right by coming in the front door... so they were basically centered with the home indoors and the scent was well distributed.. but strongest there. Hence the complaints about me "bringing the jungle inside"... it took awhile for things to even act like they would go dormant.
Under *normal* circumstances I would have had the front/southfacing deck enclosed in plastic and would have been over-wintering things out there, but it didn't happen this last winter.. so everything came inside. I figure if I "annoy" enough each winter, maybe hubby will poop out the funds for a greenhouse LOL
Lemony Persnikety...it looks like both of this ones parents had some versicolor in them, but neither one was pure versicolor. Definitely looks like some suaveolens influence as well. Nice flower. How did I do on my guess?
Pretty good... the "experts" and I see heavy B. suaveolens influence and like B. versicolor.... the pisser about this one and 8 others is that I ordered them and they were supposed to be 7 whites (B. suaveolens) and 3 Salmon... 1 got replaced with a totally different genus that isn't hardy here and promptly died, the Brugs were in horrid shape, labels not secured and thus no way of knowing who was what but they did note on the order that they had sent more salmons than white. "Lemony Persnickety" is the only one who has grown and bloomed.. and she's neither white nor salmon obviously... the others are sorta hanging in there, this will be their second.. strike that, THIRD year with me, maybe they will grow and bloom. Word of warning though - do NOT order squat from Ransom Gardens in Texas...
Sniket...sometimes weather conditions can bring out different shades of color in Brugmansia. These are definite multihybrids and hence maybe the first time they bloomed the owner thought that these would be the color that they stayed for each subsequent blooming cycle. How many times has this one bloomed for you and have you tried to set seed to it to see what the seedpod most resembles. This one might be nice to cross a nice aurea yellow x yellow suaveolens with. In other words, this might be a nice bridge plant.
Cross-pollinating LP with B. suaveolens 'White' yielded no seed pods, but the reverse did (but shock of digging up and bringing in Miss B.s.W. had the pods abort)... so far, all of her (LP) blooms have been within the same colour range. I keep her around because her scent outweighs everything else that I don't especially like about her. She's a trooper when it comes to cuttings successfully rooting. LMK if you're interested in some cuttings. I'm only inclined to cross her to a white or an orange/salmon/pink (salmon being the ideal I'd be shooting for)... I'm not particularly fond of yellow flowers in general *shrug*
I just got my outside Brugs protected as best I can manage for the night and subsequent forecast of more cold nights.. hope my efforts are passable... then I went out in this wind and cold and lit up a good ceremonial campfire to try and burn out some negative juju.... I'm letting it burn down now though... winds got harder/stronger and a risk of things getting away if I kept loading on hickory and oak...