A couple of shots of this year's version of the good doctor.....



I am having trouble getting photbucket to work ......... I had just learned the old version and now there is a new one. Anyway, only one photo came up. Maybe I will post another one later.



USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

That is very beautiful! Thanks for sharing. How did you get it to stay "dwarf" size?

This is another shot of him. He is an inground brug that grows to this size in one season. He handles the Texas sun without a whimper as long as he gets his food and water.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Carrie, the good Doctor is looking great. That spot seems to suit him very well.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

he sure is happy and gives you a wonderful canopy Carrie. He would look good planted at my new fence!


Canada 5b
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Oops, I meant to ask what the blue flowering plant is beneath him?

Canada 5b
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That is a black and blue salvia, Ruth Ann ... another very tough plant for me and the hummers love it. I saw a lone hummer this morning, of all places, coming out of one of the blooms on Canary Bird just outside my window. I had not seen one for several days (thought they were gone for the season), and then see one in a brug bloom, something I have NEVER witnessed before.


Thanks to all for your nice comments. This has not been a good brug year for me, so I am grateful for the blooms I am getting now.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Carrie, do you get seeds from it ever???

Canada 5b
Forum editing tech

RA & Carrie, excuse me for jumping right in here...I'd wait politely for Carrie to answer first, but I'd probably forget to come back later, so here goes!

RA, do you follow the Hummingbird Forum as well? Trying to collect & grow seeds from B&B is discussed every once in awhile. A key point seems to be that seedlings from B&B are mostly untrue to the mother plant, as reported by Penny, the moderator.

I've been able to collect about 2 dozen seeds from my B&B, even tho it's unlikely I'll try to grow them (guess it's just the challenge to see if I can find the seeds!) and you're welcome to them. I believe I have some other seeds I'll be sending your way, anyway.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

I'm glad I heard this before I saved seeds from mine. I am trying cuttings from my one little plant. I broke one off & decided to try it & it started to get tiny roots & then the cats ate it (or played with it to death).

I've tried the Dr twice & lost the fall cuttings over winter both times. Yours is very pretty & makes me want to try it again.

Linda
Western MD
Zone 5b

Thanks, Patrick, for jumping in there as I would not have known what to answer except that no, I have never harvested seeds from my B&B. It spreads like wildfire here in North Texas and I have difficulty finding enough homes for what I have to dig up. I have it in three different locations and it blooms for me even in partial shade. It is a heat lover though, and does it's best when the temps are high. There will almost always be a hummer or two on it, then they are off to the Turk's cap and Flame Acanthus, two more of their favorites. Might as well try some of the seeds, Ruth Ann, and see what happens.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Your Dr. Seuss looks great, this is a brug that has never done anything for me.....not one flower in 3 years. I was going to leave it out this year, but what the heck....one more chance and than it really is out of here.
Thanks for sharing , your table looks like a great place for a cup of tea.


Sally
Zone 5b
heat zone 4
Enfield Connecticut



http://community.webshots.com/user/sallycummings

For Texans, it is a big glass of iced-tea, Sally ............LOL>

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Oh, I don't know Carrie...maybe hot tea on a winter morning, when the temp in your backyard is only 60 or so? lol

I know my iced-tea season is pretty much over now.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Patrick, you know that wnen the temps drop below 65, I am inside looking for my long johns....................if I am drinking hot tea, it will definitely be inside my house.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

My gosh, Carrie, 65 is almost too hot! I took off my knit vest at 65 today, just had a long sleeved shirt on. But I do remember a friend that was visiting from somewhere in Texas, and yes, she borrowed long johns and down jacket to keep warm. It was between 60-65, and light rain. We all joked with her, and said if it quit raining we would put on shorts! Several people had them in the cars!!

Thank you Patrick, I would love to try a few seeds, I hope they like my climate here.

I have 'Autumn Monkshood' that is tall and has a rich purple bloom at this time of year and I wish I could plant some under a Brug to go up through it and bloom with the Brug blooms at this time of year. I may try lifting a few of the bulb type roots and hold them over barerooted for the winter and plant them under one when I plant the Brugs out in the spring. Trouble is, this particular Monkshood is one of my first perennials up in the spring so must need a long growing season.

OMG, to be able to leave your plants out all year and in the ground is such a wonderful thing. I once saw an image from Monterey Bay Nurseries of a Charles Grimaldi and it was huge....





and an unknown white one at a roaside in New Zealand that also was huge....






Canada 5b
Forum editing tech

WOW! What an amazing photo! The fragrance must be overpowering when driving by that wall of brug!

Selma, when one's body is acclimated for the heat, that is just the way it is .......LOL>

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

And it works very much the same in reverse...just go to Texas in the summer & it'll wilt you like so much tossed green salad in a frying pan! But Carrie & them there other Texans just have a sip of "tay" (iced of course...and LOADED with sugar) and keep on truckin'.


Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Don't forget the lemon or lime .............

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Sorry, I don't recall deleting the CG Image so have just reloaded it for you.

Canada 5b
Forum editing tech

Great pictures of the Dr. and CG. Love the new fence, too.

ChSam (Shirley Morr)
Chariton, Iowa
Zone 5

Note my temps today, and know that I am snugly INSIDE. The brugs are on their own ..... MN is watering them for me.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Carrie I love your Dr. Suess!!! And I definately know what you mean about staying in its been a frosty day for us, lol. I had the air on yesturday and today the heat got turned on. So Iced "tay" yesturday and hot chocolate today, lol.

Jason
Royse City,TX
USDA Zone 8a

Carrie, I like to keep coming back and looking at your Dr. Seuss. It has really nice proportions & I like seeing the trunks kept bare so you can see thru them. All aspects are very pleasing to the eye.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Patrick, this is a new shot taken from the inside on a rainy, rainy day. I, too, like the form of Dr. Seuss, and suppose if I could have only ONE (heaven forbid), it would be this one.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Oh my gosh, look at how loaded that brug is! Carrie, I think that's the most blooms I've seen on any of your brugs.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

There are five trunks to this one, Patrick. Amazing how they can grow this big in one year from the roots. I do love this brug, and I think you can see why !!

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Just gorgeous Carrie, the canopy shape is awesome and so is the fragrance I am betting. It reminds me of my Exotica but yours displays each single bloom better.



Canada 5b
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Oh, that is so beautiful, Ruth Ann ..... none of my pinks do this. Will this brug take sun? Dr. Seuss is the only one I have that naturally grows in tree form, and this makes him my favorite brug.

USDA Zone 7/8
Copper Canyon
North Central Texas

Carrie and RuthAnn those are absolutely beautiful. I love it, more pics please.

Jason
Royse City,TX
USDA Zone 8a

Whoa Ruth Ann, That is a big bunch of blooms. Does it flush like that all the time?

Linda
Western MD
Zone 5b

Wow, RA...who wouldn't love a display like that?! My brug that consistently gives the largest flushes is KBS. Younger brug plants that have done really well for their size are Daydreams, Harlot, L'Amour, NOL and the unnamed creme colored seedling from Jari, which I used in the hanging basket this year.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Exotica is a beast to root a cutting from, I have had poor luck unless done in mid summer and even then it is hit and miss.
It is a Versicolor and loves the heat so I expect it would like your sun Carrie, I grow it in full sun but my full sun isn't as strong as yours. I know it is not at all happy in the GH all winter at only 50F and just ekes out an existence there until spring.
The above pic was the best year ever for it and it tool 4 years to get to that. I was worried it would flower itself to death that year because it had 3 huge flushes and never was without bugs it seemed. It did survive LOL. that was in 2007. In 2008 it had less amounts but still flowered well...




It did well again this year, however, the plant was more like yours Carrie with blooms all the way around and was impossible to get a good picture of with other the other Brugs planted nearby....






Canada 5b
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