Monday, January 25, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7431 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Brown, brown and more brown... This is a continuation of yesterday's post showcasing an assortment of freeze damage plants from my yard.I'm not sure if my monstera suffered stem damage or if just the foliage was damaged. This beautiful purple orchid tree was just about ready to bloom. I know I will have to cut it back at least half this spring. Anyone who grows passion flower vines knows what a challenge it is to keep them under control. Maybe this freeze was a blessing in disguise for this one. This ... Categories:Uncategorized Tags:florida freezefozen plantsfreezefreeze damagewinter damage Read more
Saturday, January 9, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 8755 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Frozen Florida Orange Juice Anyone? With record setting cold blanketing Central Florida this week, nothing was spared from Mother nature's wrath.This orange tree happened to be on the outer fringes of my outdoor brugmansia growing area and got caught by my sprinklers during the sub freezing weather. The sprinklers were on to provide a protective ice blanket for my brugmansia during the freezes. I'm not sure if it has gotten cold enough to damage the citrus yet, but many of my brugs took a beating. We have a hard freeze ... Categories:WeatherRamblings Tags:Brugmansiafloridafreezefrozen citrushard freezeiciclesoranges Read more
Thursday, January 7, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 9383 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Brugs on Ice... My field of Angel Trumpets has turned into a Winter Wonderland as the icicles glisten under the Florida sunshine.Of course this is no Winter Wonderland for me, it is devastating to say the least. It is too early to tell what the extent of the freeze damage is, plus another hard freeze is forecast for tonight with more cold weather moving in on the weekend.With temperatures finally above freezing, the sprinklers are working hard to melt the protective cover of ice that was formed overnight. ... Categories:BrugmansiaWeather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiabrugsfreezeicesprinklersweather Read more
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 11000 / Comments: / Article rating: 5.0 A giant Angel Trumpet with super-sized blooms Here's an Angel Trumpet seedling carry over from last year. It is a cross from brugmansia Pink Beauty x Native Habitat Double Peach.This brugmansia, with its super-sized blooms, put on such a show last year that I just could not stand to toss it out. This past Spring I planted it in my yard where it has been performing nicely ever since.The blooms start out white and then slowly age to a nice peach color. While it is blooming you end up with white, peach, and in-between colored blooms on ... Categories:BrugmansiaWeatherSeedlings Tags:Angel TrumpetbloomsBrugmansiabrugsdbl peachfreezenative habitat double peachnhdppbpink beautySeedlings Read more
Monday, January 4, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7935 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Mother nature wreaks havoc on my Angel Trumpets. This year is off to a frigid start as cold air plummets south and puts Florida in a deep freeze. We have already had two nights of below freezing temperatures and now the forecast shows below freezing temperatures through the weekend.This is how Rosalie looked this morning when I went out to check on my brugs. I rely on sprinklers to protect a large percentage of my new seedlings. I started the sprinklers at 1:00am last night and kept them on till 10:00am this morning. It will most ... Categories:BrugmansiaWeather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiabrugsfreezefrosticeRosalie Read more
Sunday, January 3, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7933 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating Mounds of snow? Thank goodness no, but the billowy white frost cloth sort of gives the appearance of snow mounds from a distance.With a long spell of cold weather in the forecast this week, I covered many of my in-ground brugs with frost cloth. Hopefully this will provide a few extra degrees of warmth, enough to keep them from experiencing the freeze damage they would incur if I did not cover them. The large covered plant on the right in the photo below is a 8 foot tall Cherub. It was just getting ready ... Categories:Weather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiabrugscold weatherfreezefrostfrost cloth Read more
Saturday, January 2, 2010 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7406 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating I hate cold weather...and so do my Brugs!!!! Well it looks like we are going to start the new Year off with a bang! The National Weather Service has just issued freeze warnings for Sunday and Monday mornings.This graphic above is the forecast from AccuWeather.com. I like Weather Underground's forecast better, a low of 31 for both Sunday and Monday mornings. Two degrees can make a big difference with my Angel Trumpets. I have found Weather Underground to be historically more accurate around here than AccuWeather.Well, I know what ... Categories:Weather Tags:Angel TrumpetBrugmansiafreezefreeze warningfrostweather Read more
Friday, February 27, 2009 / Author: Sommer Gardens / Number of views: 7730 / Comments: / Article rating: No rating I have sproutage!!! After planting seeds from about 40 immature brugmansia seed pods I'm excited to report that about 1/3 already have seeds sprouting! I'm sure more crosses will sprout in the next week or two. This is way cool because I had some important crosses I was afraid I might have lost in the freeze. There are at least 30 more seeds pods that were damaged in the freeze that I plan to plant next weekend. My guess is that I have about the same number that did not get damaged that are still growing on ... Categories:HybridizingBrugmansia Tags:brug seedsbrugmansia seedsfreezeweather Read more