I got up to a very white hoar frost this morning. That wasn't supposed to happen. I had taken some things back out, but not a lot because I was doing other things and got too lazy to do it. Might should have moved them out because it might have resolved the space issues. Those brugs just did too well! One has a 5' spread and from the bottom of the container reached about the same height. It looks great, but it's taking up way too much space. The other three didn't reach that size, but they aren't exactly little. However, I'm not going to like it if a couple I managed to get out are damaged or killed. I think a couple of others will handle the frost, but I don't know about a couple. I'm just waiting for the sun to clear it away and watch and see.

You just need to chop the brugs to a reasonable size. Every piece you cut above the "Y" will root into another plant by placing the cutting in a few inches of water. These are your backups in case your big plant freezes. You don't have to keep every little piece you trim, just a few....or one. You'd be amazed how quickly those cuttings root.

If you don't want to bother with extra brugs, just chop the top of the potted brug about a foot from the pot and toss it. You may or may not get blooms from that pot next year. Or.......if you have a place to root that top, you will have a nice standard brug plant ready to bloom for spring. And then, toss the pot, or not!

There's always someone looking for a brug cutting to trade.

Bubbles said:You just need to chop the brugs to a reasonable size. Every piece you cut above the "Y" will root into another plant by placing the cutting in a few inches of water. These are your backups in case your big plant freezes. You don't have to keep every little piece you trim, just a few....or one. You'd be amazed how quickly those cuttings root.

If you don't want to bother with extra brugs, just chop the top of the potted brug about a foot from the pot and toss it. You may or may not get blooms from that pot next year. Or.......if you have a place to root that top, you will have a nice standard brug plant ready to bloom for spring. And then, toss the pot, or not!

There's always someone looking for a brug cutting to trade.

Yeah, I found out how easy they root. Earlier this summer there was a crazy branch heading off nearly parallel to the ground and I whacked it off down lower and put the top growing section in water. It started making white bumps immediately and now the jar is full of roots. I may do that, but the big one is really nice and I'd sort of like to see go in another season. All of them have buds, but I'm hoping at least to see the one that didn't bloom this year make it to a bloom. It's on the porch with the glass front. A bit warmer and a lot more light than the garage provides. It sometimes can get too warm on sunny days. I am probably going to whack away at Eternity and Adora. Eternity was the Energizer bunny as far as producing blooms this summer, so I have a couple of folks that would relieve me of any rooted cuttings.

So far I'm not seeing any damage on the plants I took out. I was mainly worried about the Epiphyllums and the Ric Rac Cactus. They are awkward inside because of their spread. That's the trouble with a plant that does well. They grow and require more space. I've accumulated a lot of plants like that. I need my thumbs to turn brown for a while. Winter may help that .

Well, just don't forget it's Turkey Day! Everyone needs to set their scale back 10 lbs.

I pruned mine down pretty much this year. I've got about 40 cuttings in a big pot with water in one of the greenhouses plus I've got about 8 or so that are in a jar already with roots. I don't have room for them in either of the greenhouses this year so I wrapped them really well with some good burlap. Had to do the same to my large hibiscus.

Have you wrapped them like this before, Chris? I think I'll probably get too cold a couple of times for that to work. I'm a miserable failure at successfully covering, wrapping or otherwise protecting anything from freeze damage. It just never works for me. They are either inside safe or outside and goners.

Looking at your photos made me think of successfully scoring on containers this week. A fellow here advertised tree pots for $1 ea. He had/has loads of them which he got in exchange of cleaning a place. The owners had formerly been in the landscaping business. I got 20 containers for $20. I've used one already, but if I can get the brugs through the winter again - even if they are only cuttings - they'll have a bigger container next year. They were in big clay containers, but two still got so top heavy they tried to uproot and fall out. I had to prop them up to keep them in the container :). Getting enough potting soil material probably won't be as cheap.

Hi Donald, Happy Thanksgiving, no, this is the first time I've done it. I read about doing it in an old gardening book I picked up at Good Will a while back. I've had these for quite a few years now. I think I'll put them in the ground next spring. There's a lady here in town that I've corresponded with on FB that has hers in the ground and they're huge.

Wow! That is some deal you got. I had to tie mine down until the other day when I put the burlap around them. The wind would knock them all over into each other so I got some cheap nylon cord at Lowe's. It's what you see wrapped around them. I had them tied down to the orange stakes you see in the ground. I got this - https://www.lowes.com/pd/Black... to use in one of my raised bed projects that I'll be putting together some time next month or in Jan. I also picked up some of this - https://www.lowes.com/pd/20-Qu...

Brugs can survive winter in the ground in Copperas Cove? I think they might be more resistant to cold temps than I realized. Still, depending on the year, I think it would be a risk here. I'm worried about the fig tree I planted this year.

Yes, brugs are high profile plants that the wind loves to topple. I lucked out a couple of weeks ago. 'Eternity' is in a big clay pot and I had it sitting on one of the stovepipes so the blooms showed off better. It got really windy one night and when I got up the brug had blown off the stovepipe and fell about 3' and hit a big sandstone rock I'd moved up and had sitting below it. Unbelievably, the end of the rock broke and as far as I can tell there isn't even a hairline crack in that clay pot. I hate that the stone broke, but it was free and those big clay pots aren't cheap and, for my area, not easy to find. The whole container landed upright, so even the brug didn't have much damage. One of the reasons I like clay pots is the weight for when it's windy. Lighter plastic pots blow around a lot easier. These new tree pots are big enough that the weight of the planting medium should be enough to hold everything in place except for exceptional winds.

Bubbles said:Well, just don't forget it's Turkey Day! Everyone needs to set their scale back 10 lbs.

I think I forgot! At least I sure don't feel very light at the moment . 'Bout all that can be said is at least the cook eats his own cooking.

needrain said:Brugs can survive winter in the ground in Copperas Cove? I think they might be more resistant to cold temps than I realized. Still, depending on the year, I think it would be a risk here. I'm worried about the fig tree I planted this year.

That's what she said. Here's a couple of articles - http://www.gardeningknowhow.co... http://www.gardeningknowhow.co... We've had some cold temps in previous winters however lately it's just a day or so in the upper 30s then back up into the 40s and 50s. I'm sure we had a few days of freezing temps last year but I don't remember them.

I moved this from "weather" to " brugs" since we sort of hijacked the weather thread. I just didn't have time to do it earlier.

I'd be very leary of leaving brugs out if the weather gets cold and wet. I've lost brugs that I thought would be fine based on previous winters.

I've tried lots of ways to over winter them. One year, I covered some of the trunks with bubble wrap, further covered with pipe insulation. The moisture got in anyway and though the trunks remained standing, they were never the same. I eventually lost those. They never really thrived. It only takes a couple of freezing nights do really do them in.

Bubbles said:I moved this from "weather" to " brugs" since we sort of hijacked the weather thread. I just didn't have time to do it earlier.

I'd be very leary of leaving brugs out if the weather gets cold and wet. I've lost brugs that I thought would be fine based on previous winters.

I've tried lots of ways to over winter them. One year, I covered some of the trunks with bubble wrap, further covered with pipe insulation. The moisture got in anyway and though the trunks remained standing, they were never the same. I eventually lost those. They never really thrived. It only takes a couple of freezing nights do really do them in.

I don't have much of a choice this year as my greenhouses are full. Since I've already got some cuttings with roots I'll stick them into some 1gal nursery pots and get them started just in case.

I think come spring I'm going to try and make a small PVC greenhouse for overflow. I'm just getting too many plants that need winter protection.

You could make a small hoop house using PVC pipe over rebar. (I had a small one that was about three or four feet high and about six feet long. I had some hibiscus and was able to store them in this hoop with just Christmas lights for warmth. The hibiscus bloomed all winter). Just cover the hoop with plastic and set it up next to your greenhouse for some warmth. In spring, you can take it down and store the pieces in the greenhouse for next year. Below is an article about a big one that we use for the tropicals each winter. We're about to put it up again next week.

http://garden.org/ideas/view/B...

Thanks for that link Sandi, I'll see if I can get that made before we go in vacation next Friday. Or, maybe I'll see if I can rearrange things to get the Brugs and the one Hibiscus inside at least while we're gone.

Sounds like a plan!

I think with my new hanging planter rack I'm almost done with I can get the brugs and hibiscus in side. Still needs the bottom center support post put on and the eye bolts to hold the plant hangers.

Looks good! Enjoy your trip. I hope we don't get freezing temps until after the first of January.

Thanks Sandi, I see one forecast for a low of 33 on the 5th. Good thing I've got the propane heaters. Even on the 4000btu setting they keep the insides plenty warm. What's bad is that the Weather Channel shows it to be in the 30s when we get to Progresso, Mexico. As far as I remember it's never been that chilly when we got there but it will be in the 80 in Cozumel.

Do you drive down? We used to do "girls' trips" to Progresso to buy pottery and large pots. I loved it. Our fountain came from Reynosa. I don't think we'd do that anymore.

We drive to Galveston where the ship leaves from. We leave on a Sat and hit Progresso on Mon then Cozumel then back to Galveston on Thu.