Brugmansia, getting ready for Spring.

This brugmansia was also stored in the garage. I did give it water 2 or 3 times during the winter - about a couple of pints each time. Some branches died, but most remained greenish and appeared plump and viable.


Bruggie looking crispy, but most of the stems look healthy. It has more dehydration damage than it did in storage last year (see photo link via labels) so maybe i needed to water it more.

This year it will be in a larger container, a wooden container that last held a fig tree. The root mass isn't overly tangled. I think that bruggies don't make the mass of roots that would be seen for a fig of the same size.

Now it's pruned, with only the dead material removed. I don't think that it needs additional shaping at this time.


Now repotted, and thoroughly watered. Like the cannas, it's now on the south facing sun deck. It's a cloudy day, with more to come, so I don't think that there is much risk of sunburn.

Overwintered cannas & zantedeschia: ready for Spring

Today I cleaned up and potted the "overwinter dry" tropicals. Those that were in the ground were dug up and stored in open containers, with clinging soil as their only protection. Those in containers were just moved inside. THey were stored in the garage, which is attached but not heated. It's probably in the 40s to 50s in the winter.

Here they are, dry and crispy. I removed the potting soil vs. garden soil from the cannas. Some of the zantedeschias were already bare (oops) but they were plump and healthy looking. One zantedeschia container, that I have grown for about 15 years, was unpotted. It was packed solid with tubers. I did some damage to delicate sprouts but overall I think they should be OK.


Here are some cannas about to be potted. The rhizomes are plump and healthy looking.


Here are a few more. Oops, I didn't label them when I placed them into storage. This may be several varieties.

The plan is to have a tropical looking deck this year. I think that the cannas will do better in containers, where they'll be warmer (for an earlier start) and can be moved around as needed.

Filled with potting soil.

Moved to the south exposure sun deck. It's not really that sunny now but it;s better than the north side.