wildlife Brugmansias and Daturas

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bbrogan1 Amma, WV(Zone 6a) Sep 14, 2007

I love the brugmansias and daturas - spectacular blooms and beautiful foliage. My question is this: We live in a mountainous rural area with scads of deer and other wildlife. The deer visit the garden every nite and munch on whatever is their fancy. Right now, they nibble on the tops of the morning glories and just a nip or two on some of the butterfly and mock orange bushes. Nothing intolerable - we moved into their neighborhood!!! Now, I have been researching the brugs and the daturas and understand they are very toxic and are the deadly Jimson weed of western lore. Will the deer and other wildlife nibble and will it spread out into their habitat - our four acres of property abuts a mountainous forest area. It is such a treat to be living in the midst of all this beauty, but I don't want to place them in danger because of my poor choice of landscaping plants.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Sep 14, 2007

Most animals are smart enough to not eat enough of the toxic plants to hurt them, so I wouldn't worry too much about the deer poisoning themselves.

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LostMayhem Tallahassee, FL Sep 14, 2007

Can the same be said for dogs and angel trumpets

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Sep 14, 2007

Probably, but if you have a puppy that's in the chewing stage or you have a dog that loves to go after plants I don't know that I'd take the chance. Most adult dogs would probably only take a bite and then realize it wasn't tasty, but they may not be quite as smart as deer in that regard since we've been breeding dogs for years for traits other than those that would help them survive in the wild. For the deer, natural selection comes along and weeds the stupid ones out of the gene pool, so it's a pretty safe bet they wouldn't eat too enough of a toxic plant to make them sick.

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