Brugmansia Spotlight

08∼ 2012 ∼ Dorothea

Brugmansia of the Month

Dorothea is a beautiful, high performing brugmansia. When it comes to putting out blooms, Dorthea is top notch. A fast growing, large brugmansia, she is also an excellent choice for hybridyzing.

Her bloodline is a 'Rubiline seedling x Rubiline Seedling.' and (Dorothea) was created and named by Ludger Schneider. The rubyline seedlings were also a group of brugmansia that were created by Ludger Schneider, a very famous German hybridizer. Monika Gottschalk had given Ludger a group of seedlings, and from them he created those he named the rubilines. Among those original 5 seedlings were the highly sought after Rubirosa. Many beautiful brugmansia were created out of this group. Ludger himself says that Dorothea is one of that was made from his crossing of Ecuador Pink X Rothkirch and Ecuador Pink X Rothkirch. From the seed pods that Ludger had created, sprung Dorthea.

The blooms range in color from pale white when first opening, to coloring up to a nice pink within a half day. The colors she throwsdepends a lot on the temperatures. A hot summer will throw deep pinks, while milder temperatures will show a creamier, lighter hue of pink.

The single blooms range in size from 6 to 8 inches. The leaves of Dorothea are also large and smooth. Deeper shades of green can be had by giving her Milorganite every six weeks or so.

This cultivar is a water∼lover. She can take some strong sunlight, but seems to perform better when given bright light in the shade of a larger tree during the hottest part of the summer days. Also keep her happy with fertilizer, (see the pages on brugmansia care for more detail) and Dorothea will bless you with the most fragrant, large bloom flushes of any brugmansia, in my opinion.

*Note: I was granted permission by the hybridizer to write the above information about his involvement in the Rubilines and Dorothea*

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