I love my D. Wrightii and am eagerly awaiting seeds. But, it's rallying up to take over my lawn - I do have the branches propped up to keep the seed pods off the ground.
Had I started early, could this have been staked and pruned to be more manageable, perhaps more like a tree than a MOUND.
Any hints or advice for next year?
Pruning a datura?
I doubt you'd ever get a tree out of datura. They tend to be sprawlly. I've always just hacked mine back a little if they get too out of bounds.
Datura wrightii has wintered over for me here, Sandra. Yours just might survive the winter and come back. It never makes it more than two years tho...
Sue - thanks, I'll just keep hacking back the rampant growth - especially parts without the pods that I'm trying to ripen. It's amazing what a three inch plant can do in five months. But, of course the castor put THAT to shame.
Hoping this one doesn't winter where it's at - I can't see anything behind it. I'll probably tear it out after frost. As long as I get a few seeds for next year and for trading, I'll be happy.
Another question - for Wrightii pods, do they take longer - I have yet to see one split, like the La Fleur ones do. If it gets to be frost time, should I just whack off the pods and store them inside until they split?
If I remember right... they don't split as nicely as the stamonium dats. They sort of fall apart. I thought an animal was eating them at first! The seeds will be brown inside. I'd leave them as long as possible. If you have to pick them early you'll be able to tell the mature ones from those that aren't ripe. One pod yields a ton of seeds. If you cut some of the growth back on it might put it's energy into ripening those pods.
I also had good luck wintering one from the root that I dug up. After frost hit I potted it and stored it in the basement with the brugs. I threw a little water on it now and then but not very much. I thought it was dead but it started growing after a couple months of dormancy. It's just as easy to start new ones from seed if you don't want to mess with it.