I have never grown brugmansias, but was considering trying some after reading about such beautiful plants. But then this weekend I read a book which said these plants are extremely poisonous - leaf, root, flower, everything - death looking beautiful. Do you enthusiasts have any concern about this? Do you raise these even in situations with pets and children? I would be interested to know the expert opinions about this. Thanks.
Poisonous?
Hello stillwood.
I don't think there's any question that all parts of Brugmansias are poisonous - if ingested, or otherwise introduced into the body. But so are many, many other plants, both indoors and out. Brugmansias are far from "death looking beautiful" - thousands and thousands of people grow them, and I've never heard of anyone truly getting sick from them, let alone dying. My three Yorkies - all less than 6 lbs. in weight - have eaten a number of Brugmansia leaves over the years with no ill effects whatsoever.
Erick
This message was edited Nov 14, 2006 4:06 PM
I worried about that some so first had mine out in pots. My granddogs that visit only "water" them, so I planted some and that's still the extent of it. We also have a few neighborhood cats that wander through and they just ignore them. As for children, you'd have to keep an eye out, but I think you have to anyway with all the plants with thorns and all the other things that are poisonous.
Sharon
I have taught my kids to not eat or touch anything with out asking. They learn pretty fast what is ok and what is not.
The closest we ever came to an accidental poisoning here in Denmark was during the world war II, where tobacco was virtually rare in our Country. It was a young lad, that during the night had broken into a greenhouse and had stolen leaves of Datura stramonium and afterworth dried the leaves and smoked them believing, that it was tobacco. Nothing serious happened with the kid.
Since 1989 I have grown plenty Datura and Brugmansia plants and had never experienced problems between the plants and children, cats or dogs. I have had one of Europes largest collection of living Datura plants and often kids would play hide and seek or play catchamong the plants. They hardly notice them, but for the fact, that they can run around them or hide behind them. Cats and dogs sometimes sniff the flowers, if they find the smell interesting.
http://www.brugmansia.dk/engletrompeter%20-%20deres%20historie%20pasning%20og%20pleje.htm#005
FYI - almost all plants are poisonous if not handled properly. brugmansia comes from the Solanaceae family of plants. there are so many species as u can see from this link http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher[common]=&searcher[family]=Solanaceae&searcher[genus]=&searcher[species]=&searcher[cultivar]=&searcher[hybridizer]=&Search=Search
one of them would be tomatoes http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/98037/index.html peppers http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/97431/index.html the lists is endless. as u can see from the 1st link.
this is why i try to do research on plants, i am interested in. the danger can be avoided by proper handling of any plant one chooses to keep or grow, and learning about the plant prior to jumping in, so to speak. just my 2 cents.
LOL Sharon. My male dog also 'water' my Brugmansia sometimes. That is the only sign, that he really notice, that they are even there :)
I am with Bloomlover, kids usually know, what to put in the mouth and what not and if they have doubts, they ask. The neighbours kids often visit the garden during the summer. They like to play catch with each other in the Brugmansia garden.
Also our female dog, Snui, has a lot of traffic going among the Brugmansia plants. Especially, when they are in the wintergarden. When she was a small puppie she once caught a rat hiding between the large pots. She never forgot that, so whenever she can, she is out there looking, if there should be more LOL
I have brugs in my chicken/duck yard, they roost in the brugs and eat the brug bugs, mites and all, as well as the leaves. I have cats that use brugs for scratching posts, then groom themselves. The only problem I've ever heard about was my niece. She was cautioned about washing her hands after working with and grooming her brugs. Apparently, she missed doing so and got, what we call, 'brug eye', where one pupil dilated, lucky that it wasn't both, when she failed to wash her hands. When you have your eyes checked and they are dilated, the med/drops administrated (to dilate) are made from the 100% poisonous brugmansia. So, like many plants, there is bad news and good news. Many, mostly over 60%, of flower garden plants are poisonous and seldom create a problem. Caution and cleanliness is the key.
I've never been worried about my two grandchildren around the Brugs. They have been in the GH and helping me since they were toddlers. They love to help pick up the spent blooms and leaves.
They were also taught right from the start that the plants were poisonous and they must wash their hands after touching them. It became a game as to who could get to the sink first to wash up. LOL
My 9 year old GS started pollinating the flowers at 7 and knows now how to cross them.
I also had 4 dogs that followed me around the GH and they never ate any of the leaves or flowers.
Enjoy the plants stillwood. As others have said there are so many other poisonous plants that we have growing in the house and outside that children should be educated not to eat any part of a plant without asking first.
Wow!!Snowhermit, you have so many!! Do you sell them? Is this your greenhouse? Thank you, Bellie
Yes Bellie it's my GH. The picture was taken two years ago. This is a picture of it in 3/06.
The grandchildren had a ball putting the smaller pots in their wagon and bringing them inside last fall.
I just posted the older picture to show that there should be no fear with children and Brugs as long as they are taught to respect them.
Wow nice green house.
How do the grands like the bears??? My grands would LOVE them, I LOVE them. Are they behaving themselves??? The bears, that is!!!
And grandkids.
Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words - perhaps the book I read was overreacting (maybe the author had experienced something unfortunate). I may give it a try - maybe just one or two in pots to start. The blooms are so special. Thanks again.