angel trumpet

[rainbowgardener]

I started this from seed three years ago. It got covered with blooms while outdoors in the late summer/early fall. I brought it in the house a month ago and it just recently put out another blossom. I've never seen it bloom indoors before! Couldn't resist posting a couple photos:

[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/Angeltrumpet1.jpg[/img]

I like this picture because in the background out the window behind this big tropical flower is all the snow...

[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/Angeltrumpet4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt102/rainbowgardener/Angeltrumpet3.jpg[/img]

[Kisal]

That's very pretty, RG!

How big do these plants get, overall? My house isn't very large, and I don't have a good place for overwintering outdoor plants. I think it would be fun to have a Datura, though.

[rainbowgardener]

Mine is about 4 ' tall and wide (height not counting the container it's in which makes it more like 5' all). But it is slender, not real bushy. It's still growing each summer, but not real fast.

I actually was thinking about throwing it away this summer. When it is not blooming the plant is not all that attractive. You can see the long bare knobby trunk behind the flower in the first picture. But then it covered itself with blooms at the end of the summer and I couldn't quite bear to pitch it...

[applestar]

Gorgeous flowers! ...and you grew that from seed?
How does it respond to severe pruning at the beginning of the growing season? Maybe you can get it to sprout new shoots lower down. You could try air-layering the upper portion before cutting.

[Green Mantis]

That really is pretty, I didn't think they would flower in the house, but that is gorgeous! Congrats on a beautiful flower! It's huge! I have seen the white's, but didn't know they came in pink too, any other colours they come in?

[rainbowgardener]

Apparently they come in yellow, peach, purple, etc:

https://www.gardenguides.com/111972-different-colors-angel-trumpet-flowers.html

however the pinks and whites are the only ones I have seen. A friend who has a white one says it is "knock-your-socks-off" fragrant. My pink one is only lightly fragrant. It smells lovely if you put your nose up next to it, but it does not perfume the room.

Wow, AS. I never thought about cutting it back. If it worked, it would make the plant less homely. However, I'd be worried about just killing it (which of course is why you suggested the air layering first). I will think on it between now and spring...

[Susan W]

Very pretty! Thanks for sharing

[thanrose]

In my area, they are all grown outside, usually in the ground. With a heavy frost they will die back to the ground, but then regrow the following spring. Occasionally, I'll see people tent them for cold weather, but it seems that heavy mulch is the usual method of winter preparation here. I'd say that means you could prune them radically.

[lorax]

Native plant, for me. Also, no longer called Datura - these ones, which are tall and woody, are Brugmansia now.

By all means hack away, RG. They're very pruning-tolerant and will bounce right back with more flowers next season. I don't currently grow any, but my neighbours do and they're quite vicious with the shears once the blooming season is over. The trees are always covered in flowers, so I guess they know what they're doing.

The sock-knocker is at least partially Brugmansia alba, genetically. My fave, though, has to be B. sanguinea. (photolink below).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bananasquarterly/5065246146/in/set-72157625080274216/#

[shadowsmom]

RG, I've always made mine go dormant when I brought it inside in the fall. Before I bring it up from the basement I trim it a bit and it fills out nicely. By the end of summer it looks a little straggly again. I just don't have enough good window locations to keep every plant happy in the winter and this one doesn't mind the rest.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah this one does always drop its leaves and go dormant after awhile when I bring it in. This is the first time it has bloomed indoors. I just let it go dormant on its own time table.

If I am going to prune it, should I do that when it is dormant? Next spring when it starts growing again? After it blooms next summer?

[shadowsmom]

I just trim mine in the early spring when I bring it up and get it going again, before it starts sprouting new leaves. It tends to bush out more that way rather than just get leggy. I do top it off when I bring it in for the winter. It's usually too tall at that point to sit in the spot I want to overwinter it.

[thanrose]

Based on what Nature does in this area where some Datura are native, but no Brugmansia, I'd say prune away in winter dormancy. But then again, we can have some pretty vicious 'canes that take off a huge amount of foliage and limbs on everything in late summer or fall, and the brugs and dats come back from that, too. And from the whole April showers thing which happens for us more in March with some February winds presaging, both of which do some spot pruning.

Really pretty forgiving as far as I can tell. So prune freely if you don't anticipate blossoms immediately.

Beth, that B. sanguinea is a beauty. If I ever have the acreage to do a little quarter acre Rappacini's Garden, I'll want a few brugs and dats in containers on pedestals. I was thinking to go with violently violet, but blood red works well, too.

[JONA878]

Super plant Star. What gorgeous flowers those beauties are.

I would add one word of caution to those who are not familiar with this plant.
Both the seeds and the plant itself are poisonous.