Msbatt the spot where they were is well draining and didn't remain wet over the winter but we did have very unusual temps Oct through Feb. It was way above normal until the last week in Jan then we hit record lows throughout Feb and March. Maybe that had something to do with the failure? It might have been one of your posts that prompted me to try wintering them over inground. I'd always brought them inside and allowed them to go dormant. I guess I'll be doing that again. lol Most of the people I've spoken with around here that grow brugs (not very many) haven't had success trying to winter them over inground. What part of the country are you in? Breinhart your temps are normally warmer than mine but we haven't had any frosts since early April. We have dipped down to the low 40's a number of times. Our winter up until the end of Jan was averaging around 60 which is about 30 degrees warmer than normal but Feb was killer here. It was sooooo cold. Now we just want rain. I think we've only had 2 measurable rainfalls in the past 2 months. I'm not sure if we had any rain during Apr and that's usually our wettest month. The weather is just really screwy and anything that goes wrong in my garden will be blamed on it! lol Karyn

Prairiemoon2, What a lovely name! I believe you just read the postings that I recently contributed to. I am sorry if you got alarmed or overly anxious. I've been working with datura and brugs for quite some time now, and this recent incident was the first ever for me. To be honest, I know that I should wash after touching them, but I don't always do so, but I do exercise caution with them. Keeping the sap away from sensitive areas is a good rule to follow. NEVER eat it. Learn from my experience and keep it from touching your eyes. By all means smell it though. I love to gently lift the flower and inhale its perfume. I also encourage my guests to do so too, but I also warn them about being careful with it for a couple of reasons, one being the obvious fact that it is poisonous ( although NOT like poison ivy), and another that I don't want it to be snapped off by an insensitive person, but rather handled gently. This is me touching the flower.....and I am still alive longing to touch more. To answer your questions, No, I do not believe they will poison the soil. Even poison ivy does not poison the soil. Neither do tomatoe plants poison the soil, and I believe these plants are in the same family. Daturas will usually self seed in one year. I note that you are in zonew 6. I am in zone 5, and have found that the simple white datura often seeds itself, and propogates itself the next year. The more complex ones seem to be more frost sensitive. I had good luck collecting seeds from my double purple swirl datura. Brugmansia, on the other hand, as a rule, will not produce seeds the first year. In fact, I have never had one go to seed for me here at my place, but friends down the road have had some seed. I have found that the plant takes about 3-4 years from the seed propogation to flowering. It is much easier, and faster to take a cutting and root it. Also you tend to get a truer genetic plant to the mother plant. With pollination, one usually has to be concerned about where the male genetic contribution comes from, as flowers are usually pollinated by bees, birds, or moths. The more sun you can give it, the better. I have some that get the morning sun similar to yours, and some that get the evening sun similar to yours. Either one is good. The best comes from getting even more sun. I suggest you enjoy your plants. I LOVE mine, and get very excited when they flower. However, do respect them, and definitely TEACH any young folks around to respect them as well.

Just enough to keep them alive. I only put maybe one or 2 cups of water on mine about once a month. The leaves will all fall off & the trunks might shrivel a little toward the end of winter. The soil will be really dry in between. In the spring, they will know before you do & will start to sprout. Linda

I had pretty much the same conditions as Mary but put one full sun bulb and one grow light bulb in the shop light fixture. I had a table beneath it that the cuttings were on and all the rest of my tropicals spread out through one side of the garage. I would leave the door open on nice days while I was at home and that was about it. Most did fine except the cuttings I got later around Christmas. I think if they get a little bit of a start and begin to root they would be ok like that. I don't know about starting cuttings with no light at all. It just doesn't seem like it would work. I had a small space heater in there that I kept on fan only but the heat part would kick in if it got too cold. It never got below 45 and that was on the very coldest night. Stayed about 50 with the doors closed. I am thinking about using the shed for the ones I want to go dormant since its dark and colder in there.