Brugmansia
(brug-MAN-see-ah)
syn. Datura
Angel's Trumpet
SOLANACEAE
Emily: Angel Trumpet in Denmark
Dear Emily: Just wanted to share how we here in the cold Denmark handle and enjoy the "Angel Trumpet".
It is an easy plant to work with. We take it in for a few months in the winter in a pot in the house, cut back the branches 10-15 cm, give it water 1-2 times per month and then put it back out in the ground, once the frost has gone.
Have a look at the picture. It has just started to flower and we are enjoying it in our garden this way 2 1/2 - 3 month every year.
Bruno & Claudia
Arthus, Denmark
Emily: I'm in zone 7 in Mid-North Carolina.
I've had one plant for 6 years now and just leave it planted in the ground. I'm in zone 7 in Mid-North Carolina. I don't protect it over the winter and it comes back year after year, bigger and better than it was the year before. This past year it grew to be about 7 ft tall & about the same across. It was bigger than my husband who is 6 1/2 ft tall.
In fact, I don't even cut the dead stalks back until the spring when I see new stalks peeking through the ground. I have bird feeders by the plant and they like to light on the stalks so I leave them for the birds. I have three other trumpet plants that are 3 years old and I treat them the same way. Leave them in the ground over the winter, not cutting back dead stalks until new ones start to show. I water heavily 4-5 days a week when the new growth starts to show and use Miracle Grow once every two weeks during the spring. However, this year I'm going to try Sea Magic (from Burpee.com & Park Seed Co.) instead of the MG because I don't want to use the MG on the food plants and I don't want to have to deal with two different fertilizers. During the summer, fall, & winter they are pretty neglected and they do great. If we haven't had much rain and the leaves get droopy I'll water them, otherwise I leave that for Mother Nature to take care of for me. I don't even mulch them in the winter other than whatever leaves fall on them from the trees in the fall. I'm a pretty lazy gardener.
I will say that I get more blooms from them, and I get blooms sooner in the season, if I strip the stalks of all but the top 4-5 leaves. Not sure why this is but on the stalks I ldon't strip the leaves from I get very few, if any, blooms.
Perhaps I just lucked out with sturdy plants but considering I got them from different sources I doubt that's what's going on. I think they are just a more durable plant than people give them credit for. I am in love with the plant though and am seriously trying to talk my husband into removing the grass from the yard and just putting in trumpets, lots more trumpets. No mowing for him, and heaven for me. Seems a win-win for both of us.
Kay
Emily: We live in Georgia
about 40 miles west of Atlanta and it has been dry but humid. I have watered each day & fertilized with Peters 20-20-20 liquid.
The humming birds love the trumpet. I have not seen any seed pods yet but then again, I haven't known what to look for. I cut it back in the winter.
Norman
Emily: I live in England U.K
no tropical conditions here, some sun if your lucky and fairly windy - MY PLANTS LOVE IT!
I bought a three foot plant a year ago, which is now four and a half feet, for only £5 ($10 ish?) - bargain
Since then I have managed to take cuttings by leaving them sat in water, although they take a while to produce roots, they have all lived! (crude but effective)
I now have a stunning plant in my work place, aprox one and a half feet tall and another on my window sill aprox 8 inches tall, two have also been given to friends - they are all growing like crazy!
Currently 'The Daddy Plant' has 12 buds waiting to explode with yellow trumpets.... can't wait!
Keep growing - Rob in Derbyshire, England UK!
Emily: I live in Fairbanks, Alaska
and my daughter bought an Angel's trumpet (Datura). We put it in the greenhouse and it flourished. It had incredible blooms and the seed pods dropped to the ground and sprouted all over the place.
At the end of summer, when we cleaned the greenhouse out, there were lots of seed pods that got shoveled out to the compost pile. In the spring they popped up everywhere like weeds. Of course, they die off in the fall, but have been coming back every year for the last 5. Hard to imagine them growing in such a cold climate, but they sure do. We love them.
Emily: I live in zone 7/8 close to Columbus/GA
I just found your website by accident and was very interested in the Q&A about the Datura (Jimson Weed - White Angel Trumpet, upward) and Brugmansia (Angel Trumpet - pink, yellow, peach - downward). I live in zone 7/8 close to Columbus/GA and grow since many years both beautiful specimen outside in my garden.
The Datura dies back every winter to the ground and comes back every spring from the roots left in the ground - I don't even protect the roots - and not from seeds. It develops 100's of seedpods every year, so I cut them off before they mature and ripen to keep them from invading my garden.
My Brugmansia are treated the same way, i.e. after dying back the roots are left in the ground with no winter protection, and every spring they grow back from the rootstock and within 3 month they are about 10 to 12 feet tall and start blooming. Blooming happens in intervals of about 3 week from one flush of blooms to the next flush and lasts until the first frost, when the above ground parts of the plants die down.
The only thing I really do is give them plenty of water during the summer and lots of love - I talk to them (LOL) and once in a very great while I give them a little water soluble tomato fertilizer, since tomatoes and angel trumpet both are in the nightshade family. The reward is a pleasure for eyes and nose and the many people slowing down and admiring these outstanding plants with often hundreds of blooms at a time.
I wish all of you growers and admirers of the Angel Trumpet good luck and a yard full of heavenly fragrance that so fits these plants.
Best regards,
Veronika ( www.vgriffinpottery.net )
Tip: When wrapping gifts, present them with garden touches of berries, leaves, swigs of greenery, dried rosebuds, or pressed flowers. Subtle touches are always remembered.