Hi Jim, I start brug cuttings in 1-3 gallon containers (whatever I have on hand) and move them up to 10-15 when the roots start showing. They finally go into 20-30 gallon pots when they outgrow those. July and August are extremely hot and humid here. Most of my brugs take full sun. I do have a few varieties that need afternoon shade, mainly my variegated and doubles. The CG and FP are hardy in the sense that they can handle most any conditions. I don't find that I have too many bug problems with either plant outside except for caterpillars. You should be able to plant the brugs inground and not worry about the cold. A short cold snap will kill of the foliage and small stems, a longer freeze will kill back most of the above ground growth but it should regrow from the roots without a problem. I left a few brugs inground over the winter for the first time last year so I'll have to see if they come back (I'm in 7a). I do ammend the soil for my inground brugs. We also have very heavy clay. I don't bother doing anything for the daturas, just stick the seeds in the dirt. I do grow some of the double and triple daturas in containers because they seem to take longer to bloom and my growing season isn't that long. I think that both are easier to care for when planted in the ground. They don't need nearly as much watering. I had to water my container brugs twice a day during the hottest part of the summer. Besides being water hogs brugs are also fertilizer hogs. I fertilize at least 1x/wk during the growing season. The daturas don't need as much water or fertilizer. I've never had any daturas grow as tall as my brugs. My tallest daturas have only been about 3' but some, especially the single white varieties get very bushy. They grow as annuals here. Most brugs from cuttings should bloom the first season. Some earlier than others, as SJN explained, it depends on where the cutting was taken from on the original plant. With a long growing season you might even get blooms from a seedling the first year. Here I don't get blooms from brugs grown from seed until the second year. I'll probably have some brugs to trade in the spring. I'd be happy to send you a few different varieties of datura seeds for postage now if you'd like. Let me know. Karyn PS: You'll find that all of us have our own way of growing these plants. One isn't better than the other. Through trial and error you'll find what works best for your particular conditions. Use what we tell you as a guide and you'll come up with what is best for your plants.

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I am a newbie at gardening. We bought a house 3 years ago in the fall after everything had died. Needless to say the next year we had a heck of a freeze after most trees, plants had started to show and nothing bloomed. Then last year what a surprise we got and excitment when things actually bloomed and we can now figure out what we kinda have. Other than one plant that my husband loves but never, until now, have found out what it was. We have one loley old Turk's cap flower. I am so glad I went to your blog and saw the picture of what we could not figure out. Although I don't have a blog etc or pics. Thanks very much for posting yours and helping us out. It was wonderful to find out what we have around the house.

A lady at work (hospital) has a swap every spring. She just had one but I couldn't go. She has beautiful yard/gardens. She just puts a flyer up at work and also mentions it (word of mouth). She asks that everyone bring a salad and a plant to swap. It is pretty neat, the salad idea, becoz it keeps from being a heavy meal, and there are lots of salads to try. She also had door prizes, just little gifts, I won a handmade stepping stone. Another swap I went to had some door prizes too - gardening books. I would even love to get old copies of gardening magazines, I just love to read them but they are so expensive at the checkout. I would love to have a swap. I wonder if that garden area by MSU could be used if it got to be a big event. It looks like an Asian garden right near the Northvillage housing area on 82. Easy to find but very sunny.