Rioja..a taste of late summer

Being a coldie, my wife's Rioja likes the cooler climate of early spring and late fall/Autumn in which she is happy to bloom .

This is the first bloom of this season and darkens to a rich red with yellow veins.

A tale of two Zuni's

One plant , two different blooms, both beautiful in their own right.

This very Brugmansia is in contention for an AGM ( Award of Garden Merit) by the RHS .
Even if it doesn't happen she is a star in the garden .

  

These are the first blooms of Zuni and really do change according to the conditions, they can be pale yellow to almost orange. Sometimes with a different coloured centre, other times a separated skirt or stuffed.  

All this makes it a pretty special Brugmansia.

Rosalie , a lady with attitude!

Rosalie just has attitude!  From eye catching twangers

To nose in the air

to a horizontal bloom with poise and elegance .

   

I plan to use her pollen to add to other pink blooms. I hope to add her attributes to add structure and her horizontal blooming habit into brugs that are more pendant in nature.  

Angie Leigh...doubly amazing !

Firstly a confession,

I'd love to take the credit that my cross was the result of my amazing hybridization skills and imagination , but in truth it was a bee. 

It just so happens that at the time a single yellow called Buddy and a orange double called Dola Goldentrumpete( pictures on a earlier thread) were both in flower. I know so because sadly I keep a journal of what's budding, blooming and anything brug related like where a plant is located and how well it's doing. Like most plants, Brugmansias thrive in certain conditions, so its good to know for the following growing season . The journal is also great bedtime reading , not that it's boring you understand. For me it puts my thoughts back into the garden at the end of the day . 

Anyway, the resulting cross and seedpod has so far yielded 3 registered Brugmansias. 
All different, two doubles with different colours, and a orange single. 

This is Angie Leigh

Angie Leigh is a yellow to tangerine coloured double, with a waxy corolla that lasts for days.
The scent is also amazing, being a strong sweet marzipan . It's a smashing hybrid, and I hope to get her out there by taking cuttings ( a subject for another day)  so more people can enjoy her too in the future.

Raspberry Ripple or Neopolitan ?

Yes we're talking ice creams..well colours anyway.

This is a seedling that I've been lucky enough to grow out from my buddy Dan across the pond. In Fact it is one of 7 seedlings of the same cross that I have. 
I'm not obsessed you understand, well maybe a little, but its such a great cross and each seedling has been different. I will of course, elaborate as they bloom.

Back to Ice Cream, as a kid we loved both Neopolitan with its stripes of individual flavours and colours,  and who doesn't love  Raspberry Ripple?

So looking at this cross, M.E.W x Marley No 1 it has the very same attributes, and seeing it flower just takes me back to my childhood treats.

and I can't go without adding my love of backlight on a Brug to highlight it hidden treasures.

DS William George registered

This is cross from my friend Didier Silvestre that I have grown from seed to mature flowering plant in the past two and half years.

Happily I have grown a flowering cutting which is now registered with Brugmansia Grower's International, named for my late father William George, for my family it will be simply called Bill. I think its a worthy Brug.

The main plant has been flowering since May  this year, and just continues to dazzle in the sunshine.

Goff's Girl

Here's Goff's Girl, originally from Costa Rica that found itself to me.

The hybridizer Patricia never named this cultivar, but asked me to name her, so I did for my Mum.

 It's a very feminine bloom for a single , nice colour and great scent. Mum loves it!