Patio Gardening

Growing Brugmansia on the Patio

Many people like to container grow their Brugmansia. Especially if you live below zone 9B (zones 8 and lower) container patio gardening is more efficient in many cases.When that first threat of fall comes around, it is easier to haul in a large plant that is already potted than it is to have to dig it up and bring it inside a basement or garage and over winter it.

Container gardening with brugmansia does have other advantages.You will get faster blooms, plus more control of the fertilizers it receives, and most of the time you'll be able to check it for pests more often.

Brugmansia will need at least a 20 inch pot that holds 12 gallons (or more) of soil if you expect to have any success with the plant in this manner. Brugmansia grows quickly and needs lots of space in order to set up an extensive feeder and anchor root system.

If you decide this is the route you want to go with, you can repot the plant into a larger container at the end of each growing cycle, or remove it from the pot it is in, trim off some of the roots (about 6 inches all around) and then place back in the same pot.

I ultimately end up with around a 25 gallon pot. Trim just the top branches if repotting in the same pot, so that the top loses some growth, just as the roots did.

Even down here, where I can easily cover the brugmansias up for the few days of frost we receive, I find that container growing them allows me to better control their fertilizer, and letting them get a little rootbound forces them to grow upwards and bloom more often.

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