I have a Angel Trumpet, but am having problems & not sure what's
going on. I had it under a shade tree in the yard last year, but seemed too hot for it.
Then this year I moved the 2 large pots to my covered patio and the blooms
don't last very long...maybe 1 day. Just not sure what I am doing wrong.
I see from some comments, that they were planted outside in North TX.
Should I do this and if so, shade/part sun or what? I would really like to
find the secret to making these grow & then get more.
I would greatly appreciate any information you could provide!
Angel Trumpet-HELP!!
They are heavy feeders and also like LOTS of water. Mine was in ground and got full sun from about 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. I did have to water it daily, and feed with miracle grow, but it bloomed like crazy. It froze to the ground this winter, but is coming back from the roots, which surprised me greatly.
If it's dropping blooms quickly, I'd say it likely needs more water since if it lacked fertilizer, it wouldn't make any blooms at all.
Crow
is an angel trumpet the same as a brugmansia?
Angel Trumpet is one of the common names for Brugmansia. You can plant them outside but if you do it will freeze back every year and will take months to start blooming again. If we have a cold Winter like last year, some may not come back or if so be very weak. If the blooms only last a day it does sound like a water problem. You may need to go to a larger pot, or at least add water crystals. Brugs are heavy feeders but in the last few years we have stopped feeding. Almost all of ours are planted outside and we compost like crazy. The soil is so good additional feeding is not needed. Now that our soil has improved we have not seen as many bug problems as in the past. Good luck and you may try and attend the ETRU this Fall, there are always Brugs to be had there.
This is Orange Sunshine;
Mine is a pot and I water it everyday or it begins to droop. I also keep it out of full intense afternoon sun. It blooms well for me but like people have said I also miracle grow it all season long.
C
i am glad to be reading this --i planted one last year that never bloomed but this year it came back and is ready to bloom--it is about 5 feet tall and i see the one in the pot is much smaller--is it due to the container? mine is in the ground--i will try and remember to feed it now--i also have two smaller ones planted in the back yard that i will need to feed--i have been pretty good about watering them and i did put them in a partial shade area
The one in the basket was cut from above the Y. Brugs will not bloom until they Y and if you take your cutting above the Y it will bloom much sooner. Also it is Orange Sunshine and OS will bloom very small if cuttings are taken above the Y. Here is an OS that is about to bloom and is in a 4" pot.
"if cuttings are taken above the Y"--------------when can i take cuttings? do i wait for a harder wood branch? do i wait for it to bloom first?
LOL the first time someone said Y I was dumbfounded but now I know...
C
When you take cuttings is up to you. Do you need, want more of the same Brug? If it is blooming now, you only need to find out why blooms are only lasting one day. If you do want more of your Brug, you can take cuttings whenever you like. Most people find it easier to root in the Summer months and yes hard wood roots easier than green. You do not need to wait until it blooms, most people grow the plant for the bloom and do not want to cut until need be. A lot of people only take cuttings in the Fall to insure they have that Brug, if they have a cold Winter and the mother plant does not come back. I lost several Brugs this last Winter, too cold and too wet.
Do you have a name for your Brug? Some Brugs come back even after a cold Winter and some can't take a mild Winter. Sam has always been a week plant for us but because it was named by the seedling parent after one of our Great Pyrenees, we will always have it. Variegated Brugs are also weak when it come to cold Winters.
Here is Sam;
Strange thing. Three summers ago I was gifted with at least a dozen brugs from different DG friends. Put them all in the ground all over the back yard, some sun, some shade, some part sun/shade. Last year (09) two of my favorites did not show. They all bloomed their heads off but I had already been advised of lots of water and feeding. This week, after being under 14 inches of snow, they all are up and thriving, including the two never showed at all last year. Many plants appear to be in better shape after the cold winter, including dozens of tropicals. Even the St. Augustine is solid and deep......we have it cut as high as possible and put Scott's Turf Builder on in the early spring. Seems most plants prefer 4 seasons and that is a rare event (if ever) in Dallas.
Christi
We only have two seasons, cold and wet then hot and dry.
Christi, Given where Brugs originally came from, I doubt Brugs really need 4 seasons. Sometimes Brugs will send out new growth from their roots, but most of the time if the buried portion of the trunk is dead, so is the plant. Ken is correct about the variegated Brugs being more sensitive to cold. I took a chance and planted 2 Jamie Brugs in the ground in the spring of 2008. Even though I protected the tops as well as the roots, neither returned in 2009.
Ken, Sam became one of ones I had to have ever since I first saw it. After killing 3 by treating them like all my other Brugs, I've cut down on the watering a bit and have managed to get one up to about 3' tall this winter and spring. I hope to see it bloom this year.
Dunno about brugs, since I didn't leave any of mine out last winter. But, in general, I've had the same thing here that Christi is saying. A lot of my perennials came up later than usual, and I was afraid I'd lost a lot of them. But now that they're up, they're bigger and lusher than usual after the colder winter. I did lose a few, but the ones that survived look better than they ever have.
I guess I am very lucky.
I have 4 plants of Angel Thrumpet. All of them in the sun.
Also they get water when the grass gets water (right now twice a week).
I don't even look at them and they are doing great, growing like crazy.
Yes but are they blooming like crazy?
The brutal summer did my brugs in. Don't expect to have even one bud. Some of them are riddled from the grasshoppers and others are just a stick with no leaves. Have been gardening with a vengance for 6 years now......this was the worst summer. The suns rays even cooked the okra plants! The gardeners creed....."Well, there is always next year."
That's brutal when even okra wilts. Mine appear to be coming out of summer dormancy. I sure wish there was a sure fire way to get rid of those grasshoppers.
I just have the one variegated brug in a pot and it tried to bloom 3 times. Each time squash beetles ate the flowers right away. I got so disgusted I just kept cutting off any buds that formed! Now it has a few but its really suffered this summer. I was thinking of getting a few more but not now.
C
My yellow and white angel thrumpet are constantly in bloom. My purple one and the pink less bloom. They are all under the sun. Lucky lucky !!
This is my white one two months ago, now it is triple this size !!
This message was edited Sep 11, 2010 8:09 PM
Is your white one a brug or a datura?
Cheryl
I dunno
The white one in the photo is a datura. Brugs don't come in purple so that one would be a datura also.
drthor,
Do your datura come back every year?
Datura point up and Brugmansia point down. Both of the plants in drthor pictures are Datura. This is the problem with using common names.
This is Brugmansia Orange Sunshine;
Are datura's resistant to insects because they are poisonous? I might try one of those.
C
I don't think the actual datura plant comes back but it reseeds so heartily that you will always have them return. That's the white one. I have had the purple and the double yellow and they are unpredictable about returning. Sometimes I wonder if they lay dormant for a couple of years and then spring forth.
Brugmansia is definitely tropical. I always take cuttings for insurance but thus far they have come back from the roots. This just hasn't been their year for me. Last year they bloomed magnificently.
Gardeners are optimistic gamblers. There is always "next year".
Well both plants are pretty so I might try the Daturas to see if they are easier to grow. I saw some spectacular ones at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens one year. They were huge with purple ruffly petals.
C
I have had those beauties more than once. I know the white is native and grows in the wild. The double yellow and purple ruffle is a little more cantakerous about returning on its own. Just be sure to save seed. One seed ball has hundreds of seed. Now this is based on my experience.
Others may have better luck.
Might be worth planting some seeds each spring...
Thanks for the info. So now I know that I have DATURA.
Yes, they all came back year after year. Even after the cold winter we had this year.
drthor, you should try going to the NCTRU, I know there will be Brugs there, so then you can grow both.
The native Datura is a small flowering one called Datura stramonium, Jimson weed. I forget the name of the second picture but it will come back every year, unless we have a Winter like last year. I have these by the thousands.
The white Datura in the picture is Datura wrightii
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=DAWR2
This is a Texas native that usually comes back from the roots, unless it is an uncommonly cold winter. It is wise to save some seeds.
Datura Inoxia http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DAIN2
and Datura stramonium http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DAST
are not native but are very widespread in the U.S.
The tomato hornworm does eat daturas since they are of the same family as tomatoes, all daturas are hallucinogenic and very poisonous.
Not recommended if you have curious children or pets that like to eat plants.
If you want the pretty double yellows, whites or purple ones to come back true, plant only one variety so it won't cross pollinate with any other variety. An alternative is to plant the colors you want every year from a known source and remove all the seed pods as soon as they form or you will be overrun by Datura plants. In Brugs, white is the dominant color. If it is the same with Daturas, it could explain why the majority of the re-seeded ones come back mostly white.
As for being poisonous, if you take the proper precautions and teach your children what is acceptable to eat and what is not, as we do with a vegetable garden, you shouldn't have a problem. Pets are a different problem. My current cats and dog are not interested in broadleaved plants. I did worry when I had a dachshund even though he was always careful to pick off only the tomato hornworms off my tomato plants.
Unexpected animal visitors are unpredictable. Late last fall, one of our young calves broke through the fence and ate some lantana leaves. He spent the week-end at the vets. He had a stomach full of activated charcoal and a sore behind, but he recovered.
I am always leary about very poisonous plants. Some or even most might make you sick but a few are pretty deadly, like oleanders.
C
I would expect fully 90% of the plants in my garden would be either deadly or make you wish you could die. Don't expect to eat any of them. The greenery in any of the night shade family is deadly....as in potatoes. I've always wondered how the eatables as opposed to the poisonous was determined waaaay back in the day. Guess there was more than one reason for a King's taster. Not only because someone might poison him on purpose but because the food chain was very unreliable as well as unknown.
I think you are right Christi, or maybe even way back they drew straws to see who was going to test a new food.
I must say that I have never had any reaction at all from working with and handling Daturas, but we are not allowed to plant them at the wildscape because of the danger of people smoking them and having a bad reaction or even death, and then sueing the parks department.
People will smoke Daturas?Really??
Yes, some people are not very smart and will try anything.