July 2010 Archives

Florida has some of the most beautiful sunsets you'll ever encounter.  Here's some recent shots I took while strolling through my Brugmansia forest at sundown.

It is almost as if the sky is on fire..

Of course if I was living in southern California I would be afraid that the sky may actually be on fire...

Sunrise and sundown are the best time of day to admire Angel Trumpets during our hot Florida summers.

The moths were out cruising around my Angel Trumpets in full force tonight.  I typically take an evening stroll through my field of Brugmansia with a LED headlamp on.  As you can imagine, that headlamp is a giant magnet for all sorts of flying insects.  Tonight I was running in circles trying to photograph giant sphinx months feasting on brug nectar.  I did not have much luck with the giants, but I did get some shots of their smaller and more passive relatives, the Tersa Sphinx.

Here's one checking out a hole that was most likely made by one of its juvenile predecessors.

Looks like I should get ready for another caterpillar attack in a few weeks.

While browsing through my Angel Trumpet seedlings last night I came across a perky little bloom from a Brugmansia Miss Ellie x Unknown cross.

The bloom has a nice golden yellow color, like its mama Miss Ellie, and cute curly tendrils.  I think I'll hang on to this one and incorporate it into my fall breeding program.  It looks like a pesky housefly is hanging on to it too!  :)

I took a stroll through my brugmansia forest tonight and I was overwhelmed by all the blooms I encountered.  Even though our night-time low temperatures are breaking records (low's near 80f), and the highs are in the mid 90's, these plants are blooming like crazy.  The fragrance in the air was almost over-powering.

Here is an assortment of the Angel Trumpets I found blooming tonight.  The first one's blooms are not really that special, but the seedling makes up for it with quantity.  I cannot recall the cross, but I have marked this one to toss so it does not matter.

The seedling below has been displaying some great traits so I decided to add it to my 2010 keepers.  It is from a cross between Brugmansia Super Spot and Apricot Queen


Here you can see Brugmansia Kong in the center with Pink Perfektion on the left and an Ecuador Pink x Rothkirch seedling on the right.  Kong's blooms are not nearly as large as the one in the photo used to sell the plant.  The bloom size could just be an environmental or summer related issue.


I"m going to have to research the cross involved with the seedling pictured below.  The tag has faded and I couldn't make out the names when I shot this photo.  I know this seedling has been fully documented with earlier photos, so I just need to research my photo archives to find out the parents.  If it ever decides to stop blooming, I plan to get a bunch of cuttings growing so I can register it and release it next spring.  It is definitely a keeper!



Here is Brugmansia Jessie Noel.  I've had this plant for three years and this is the first year it has bloomed.  It was moved out to full sun this spring so perhaps that is what triggered the blooms. I like the waxy texture of the blooms.

Brugmansia Pink Charm is coming back into bloom.  This Monica Gottschalk cross loves it here in Florida.  It rewards me with flush after flush of beautiful pink blooms.  These blooms just opened and will darken by tomorrow.


Brugmansia Serendipity, pictured below, is another classic brugmansia that should be grown more.  It thrives in Florida and blooms like crazy all summer long.  If you look closely, you'll see a few seed pods hanging in the center.  These blooms just opened and they will "pink-up" more over the next couple of days. 


Continued in the next post....

Considering this plant is only two feet tall right now, Brugmansia Andrew's Gold still makes an impact.

This one did not have a tag, but I am fairly certain it is Painted Lady. The blooms just opened tonight and are a very pale pink.  If it is Painted Lady, the blooms will be much darker by tomorrow.  

Here's one I plan to release to the public next spring.  It is a cross between Brugmansia Adeline and Miss Emily Meckenzie.  The blooms are super sized and the plant almost always has blooms on it.  Like many pinks in Florida, the color darkens in the cooler months.

The cream colored blooms below are from a seedling involving a cross between Brugmansia Color Point and Dark Rosetta.  I think the stray pink bloom on the left is a Brugmansia Velvet Rose x Dorthea seedling.


Here's one that really grabs your attention at night.  The cross is Brugmansia Rubirosa x Sam.  I'm anxious to see what this one does in the cooler weather.  Even in the summer heat, the blooms will darken much more than the color displayed in the photo below.

This yet to be named seedling is on my list to register and release this fall.  It is from a cross between Brugmansia L'amour x Charles Grimaldi.  I do not think this plant has been without a bloom so far this entire summer!

Brugmansia Kelly Anne has been an over achiever here in Florida.  It is a fast grower that blooms and blooms and blooms.  The blooms will darken as they age.  If you look closely you can still see a couple of seed pods hanging in the center.

I think this is enough eye candy for one night.  All these plants are blooming right now.  In addition to these, there are lots more that just have a few blooms or the blooms are not photo quality.  With all the new seedlings that are just setting buds, expect lots more eye candy in the weeks to come!

Don't believe people who say that Angel Trumpets do not bloom during the hot Florida summers.

Here's an Angel Trumpet seedling carried over from my 2009 "watch zone" that has been blooming non-stop for the past month.  My watch zone is an area where I place seedlings that show great potential for future breeding or commercial release.  This little cutie is a Brenda Delph (Seedsprout) cross between Brugmansia New Orleans Lady and (Angel's Flight x Charming).

Last year the majority of the blooms were double with an occasional triple.  This year all the blooms have been compact triples.  I'm not sure if this is related to maturity or the fact that last year I had the plant growing in partial shade and this year it is baking under the hot Florida sun with no shade whatsoever.

The blooms are on the smaller side and have a nice fragrance. They are waxy in texture and hold up extremely well in the heat. The blooms mature to a cream color with a tinge of apricot showing in the tendrils.

For those of you who follow Brugmansia crosses you may recall that The Chief came out of an Angel's Flight x Charming cross.  While this seedling has been predominately cream in color, it did show some orange color in the cooler spring months.  Here's a photo from late spring in 2009 that shows more color and the double bloom form it had last year.


I'm looking forward to using this one in my fall breeding program.  I have two other seedlings from this same cross that I am also watching this summer.  One is another double/triple and the other a single.  I also have a couple of second generation seedlings I'm growing out from crosses I made with this one last year. 

I will most likely wait until winter to determine if this one should be registered and released to the public.

Actually I would like to know who your momma is too!  This "lost tag" brugmansia seedling that I think has some promising traits.  The blooms are snow white, have perfect form, and have a waxy texture.

On the fragrance side, my nose does not seem to be working properly at the moment but I did detect a slight fragrance. That means it may actually have a strong fragrance because I'm not able to detect many smells right now.  The more I study this bloom, the more I think I may have seen the same, or a similar style of bloom last fall.  I document all my seedlings, good and bad, with photographs so I'll have to research this further.  It would be great to know the parentage.

As you can see, it loves to bloom.  When I shot this photo a couple of days ago, it had been in bloom for over a week.  With a bunch of buds in the wing, it should have blooms for a couple more weeks!  I'll definitely keep this one on my watch list for the rest of the year.

I usually take a midnight stroll through my Brugmansia forest before I head to bed and hardly a night goes by when I'm not greeted by a surprise bloom.  The survivors from last year's crop of seedlings have rebounded and are beginning to reward me with beautiful blooms. 

Here's a seedling that caught my attention when its golden blooms lit up the sky during our recent full moon. 

This Angel Trumpet seedling is from a cross I made between Brugmansia Ludger's Windsong and (Color Point x Double Dark Rosetta) #6. It has a nice golden yellow color and a pleasant fragrance.

The blooms are holding up well in our heat and humidity, making this one worthy of hanging on to for breeding purposes. I think the first cross I'll make with it is with another Color Point x Double Dark Rosetta seedling I have that has a wild looking triple white bloom on it. I would love to be able to create the same look in yellow.

I always like it when a seedling strives to impress me by producing a mini-flush when it blooms for the first time.  :)

Just kidding, you definitely do not want to eat an Angel Trumpet bloom, no matter how delicious it may look.  Here's a photograph of Brugmansia Lizzy that reminds me of a strawberry ice cream cone - yum!

Lizzy just loves our Florida weather.  I think when brugs are born and raised in the heat, they perform better in the heat.  I see brugmansia enthusiasts from the north comment on how all their brugs look like wet tissue paper in the summer heat.  When I go for stroll through my Brugmansia forest when I'm home for lunch, I see lots of brug blooms in perfect form, including some with perky tendrils reaching up to the hot Florida sun.

Another good thing about Lizzy, unlike ice cream, she does not melt.

Here she is again, right side up!

With summer comes the usual influx of garden pests, both good and bad.  Spiders are my friends, that is until I accidentally run smack dab into their webs at night.

Nothing gets your blood pressure riled up like the feeling of sticky spider web wrapping around your face....unless.....you happen to also feel the pitter-patter of 8 little spider legs scurrying across your face to the back of your neck.

I wonder what colorful insect this guy is munching on for his midnight snack?

Hardly a week goes by without me having to do the spider dance in the middle of the night.  Perhaps I need to pay more attention to what is in front of me when I'm strolling amongst my Brugmansia at night?

I was sorting through a bunch of Brugmansia photos I took this past week and I just realized that Lady Liberty was blooming on the 4th of July...how appropriate!  Having been knocked down by the freeze this past winter, this was Lady Liberty's first bloom of the year.

Brugmansia Lady Liberty is a Brenda Delph hybrid from a cross involving Creamsickle and Insignis Solid Gold. I have lots of seedlings growing with Lady Liberty as the pod parent that have yet to bloom.  I had a few bloom last year and from what I remember, they were single yellows and single whites. Maybe this year I'll find one with color and Lady Liberty's form.

Another Angel Trumpet that is putting on a summer show right now is Brugmansia Pink Charm.  While the color is not quite as dark as it would be in cooler weather, it makes up for it with the quantity of blooms.  Pink Charm also has a very pleasant scent that permeates our thick summer nighttime air.

Brugmansia Pink Charm is a Monika Gottschalk Hybrid grown out from seed by Shirley Moor. 

I have a bunch of seedlings with Pink Charm in the parentage that I expect to see bloom later this year.  I'm sure I'll have some real beauties in the mix.

Everyday I'm finding more and more of my Angel Trumpets forming buds or coming into bloom, despite the record breaking heat we are encountering.  Brugmansia Velvet Lady is one cultivar that is thriving in the heat.  Below you can see a young Velvet Lady showing off its first mini-flush.


The blooms on Velvet Lady hold up well in the heat and rain.  Many of the other whites I have in my collection start spotting after day one in the summer.  But as you can see, even the tendrils on Velvet Lady are heat and rain resistant.

The only thing I do not like about Brugmansia Velvet Lady is that when it comes to hybridizing, I have yet to get a single seed pod to set on it, despite more than 100 attempts.  It also produces very little usable pollen and so far I have not been able to get it to father a pod either.  I'm not giving up though, I'm the type person that gets motivated by a challenge.  Once our cooler fall weather settles in, I'm going to dust every bloom this plant throws until I get a pod to take.  :)

Wish me luck!