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Mutant in paradise... Mutant in paradise...

Mutant in paradise...

Last season I ramped up my brugmansia hybridizing efforts using brugmansias with mutant and deeply serrated foliage.  The results of those...

Fred's Garden Blog

After a nearly five year hiatus, Fred's Garden Blog is back! Now you can enjoy and experience the gardening exploits and adventures of Fred in his quest to hybridize brugmansia and keep his jungle and nursery under control.

Sommer Gardens / Monday, December 26, 2011 / Categories: Random thoughts

Christmas presents for my brugmansia

My Angel Trumpets will have a nice surprise soon when they are covered with a new shadehouse I'm building with the help of friends during the Christmas Holidays.  When completed there will be just under 9,000 sq ft of growing space under the cover of shade cloth.  During the winter growing season a layer of clear poly will add additional protection should we have sub-freezing weather.

shadehouseconstruction.jpgThe toughest part of the construction project was sinking 80 sixteen foot 4x4's amongst my brugmansia.  Our current muggy, summer-like weather made the job even more challenging.

shadehouseconstruction-2.jpgUnfortunately I could not match the footprint of the new shadehouse to the current footprint of my existing growing area, so lots of plants had to be relocated to make room for the rows of 4x4's.  Below you can see a bed of large brugmansia seedlings that had to be divided in order to set the row of 4x4s.

shadehouseconstruction-4.jpgEven my larger stock plants, which are allowed to root themselves in the ground, had to be yanked up and relocated.

shadehouseconstruction-5.jpg.jpg Because my growing area has a slight slope to it, the height of the roof ranges from 10ft to 13ft.  This will allow me to place even the largest brugs in my collection under shade.  I went with a 30% shade cloth to allow as much light as possible in during the winter, yet protect and cool my plants in the heat of summer.  The shadehouse will be totally enclosed which should make it easier to keep the pests under control, especially the caterpillars.
shadehouseconstruction-3.jpg
With the support poles in place we are now starting to frame the top and sides of the structure so the shade cloth and poly film can be easily affixed.  We hope to have the framing completed by mid-week.  The shade cloth is being custom sewn and will not arrive until next week. Luckily we are experiencing above normal temperatures so i do not have to worry about cold weather for at least the next two weeks. Meanwhile I'll still have plenty to do New Year's weekend as I redesign the existing sprinkler system to fit the shadehouse and rearrange the thousands of brugmansia plants that will be under cover..

The second present is is an 80ft x 24ft greenhouse that should arrive here as a kit in 10 days.  It will be used to start young seedlings and for growing inventory for my online store at SommerGardens.com. It will not take me long to fill the greenhouse up as I have over 100 trays of rooted brugmansia cuttings waiting to be potted up.

After suffering through major setbacks and plant losses in 2009 and 2010 as the result of our record setting freezes, I'm totally psyched knowing that I will soon have over 10,000 sq ft of covering to protect my brugmansia.   2012 is going to be a great year in the world of Brugmansia!


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