Sharon,

I have all kinds. Some of them are the native daturas that are herbaceous perennials with upward facing flowers. They either come back from roots in well-drained soil, or reseed themselves heavily in heavier clay, assuming I don't remove all the thornapple seed pods so they can't reseed. The native daturas have large upward facing white flowers that are at least 5" or 6" long and sometimes longer. They are fragrant and the night-flying moths love them. They'll grow in almost any kind of soil--being tough natives, they are not very picky. I also have some daturas that are white with just a hint of purple on the edges of the flowers and some of those are among the reseeders. They don't come back from the roots for me, but they tend to reseed. The purple ones aren't as cold hardy as the white daturas. In the past, I've grown the double yellow, double white and double purple flowered daturas, but none of them come back reliably for me and I haven't planted seed for any of them this year.

I also have some of the tropical brugmansias which have huge downward-facing flowers. They also are very, very fragrant. They prefer very rich, moist, loose fertile soil. When I plant them in the ground, I amend the clay with tons and tons of compost, pine bark fines and lots and lots of cow manure. They are heavy feeders, so I also feed them with compost tea and liquid seaweed. They come in various colors. I think I have two kinds of yellow-flowered ones--Cassie's Curls and Lemon Twist, one peach-colored one whose name I don't remember, and Equadorian Pink, which is the least cold-hardy of them all. Twice (on nights that it went down to 16 degrees) the pink one suffered freeze damage in the garage and lost all its leaves, but it regrew new leaves very quickly. You can keep them in large pots all the time, but you have to be very conscientious about watering them because they do not like to dry out. Sometimes in the hottest part of the summer, I water the potted ones twice a day. They have bloomed on and off all winter and the flowers and fragrance have been luscious all winter long.

You can use them any way you want. My native whites and the white ones with the hint of purple are usually in the ground in the border around the veggie garden, in the moon garden with other white flowers, and sometimes in the sandy soil around the chicken pen, where they bloom surprisingly well in all-day dappled shade and no full sun.

In the cottage border, they grow with a huge assortment of other flowers including hollyhocks, malva "Zebrina", Texas hummingbird sage, zinnias of all kinds, gomphrena, yarrow, Texas Red Star Hibiscus, verbena bonariensis and whatever else I happen to throw into that bed.

In the moon garden, they grow with other white-flowered night-blooming plants like flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata and Nicotiana sylvestris) moonflower vine, Evening-scented stock (Mattiola longipetala) four o'clocks in shades of white, yellow, pink and fuschia. That moon garden also has some daytime bloomers like Cosmos "Psyche White", Cleome "White Queen", sweet alyssum, various oriental poppies and California poppy "Ivory Castle".

The tropical ones are either on the patio in pots or in the ground in the back yard, where I combine them with other tropical-looking plants like banana trees, colocasias, alocasias, caladiums, castor bean plants and annuals like ornamental sweet potatoes, ornamental striped maize, ornamental peppers, purple hyacinth bean vine, variegated tapioca, and pentas to give the area around the lily pond and patio a tropical look.

I have two more brugs ordered from Select Seed and they'll arrive in late April or early March, but I don't remember which two I ordered. Of course, they'll be small--most likely in 4" pots, but they still should reach blooming size by fall.

I'll be bringing plenty of seedlings to the swap, and may try to root some brug cuttings once they leaf out a little more. Their foliage keeps trying to grow and look good but the March winds keep shredding it. On a lot of the windy days, I try to put the potted ones in sunlight but in a protected area. However, since they usually have no foliage on them in March since they've been dormant or semi-dormant in the house or tornado shelter, they're still ahead at this point even if the foliage is small and ratty looking from the wind.

Dawn

I have had them for several years here. I have them in the ground with rose bushes. They get very big every year. They die to the ground but have always come back for me. Do not know what the names are but they are the brugmansias.

That is my car behind the yellow one

Looking up into a flower

Thank you both :) Dawn, I think I would like to have some of your Datura seedlings for a back fence area...how tall will they grow (in dappled shade)? As for the Brugmansia, I will have to try that one some day...I'll be on the lookout for seedlings in my area.

Beerhog,

Yours look great. You must have better-drained soil than we have here. We have very thick, heavy, red clay soil that just doesn't drain well at all. In the summer, the heat dries it out enough, but in the winter it can stay soggy and sopping wet for days and days.

Sharon,

I'll bring some to the swap. In dappled shade my daturas usually get at least 5' tall but they don't look too terribly leggy. They stay only slightly shorter, but fuller, in full sun.

Dawn

I have pretty good soil here. It does drain fairly well. The beds I have them have a lot of compost added when I made them. i just use 13-13-13 on them a couple of times in the summer and water.

Just beautiful !!!! I have one brug and it's yellow too.
I got mine at a lawn and garden show in Ft. Smith from a lady in Tulsa who has a garden center there. Mine will be going in the ground as soon as the frost date passes.

Teresa

beautiful picture! Question: I have a plant that looks just like an angel's trumpet but is a weed about 3 feet high that pops up in the orchard every year. Butterflies love it. If I remember correctly the leaves have a sort of thorn on them. Is is a type of angel's trumpet? Should I transplant it? I left it awhile for the butterflies then dug it out. Next time (if it seeded) should I transplant it?

A few of the brugs I grow.

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randy

Lifesblessings,

If it has very large white flowers and coarse green leaves, it probably is Datura inoxia. If it has very large white flowers with a purple throat, it probably is Datura stramonium.

Does it look like the photo below?

If not, I don't know what it is.

You can move it, you can collect the tiny seedlings when they sprout and plant them elsewhere, or you can leave it where it is. If you don't want it all over the orchard, though, you probably should move any that sprout. In sand or sandy loam, datura can be quite invasive. If you have a few plants in a garden setting, it is easy to prevent them from reseeding too vigorously by cutting off the round seedpods (covered in thorns, and often referred to as thornapples) before they dry and split open.

Randy,

Nice photos of your brugs. Lemon Twist and Cassies's Curls are in bloom on my patio right now.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Datura inoxia Wikipedia

Randy...those are just gorgeous!
Dawn...I'm excited about having some of your Daturas...That height is just what I need to go along my back fence (to hide the neighbor's, uh...junkyard).
I'm looking forward to the 18th!

OOOHHHHHH yer killin me here. I had a purple and white one and it never came back. Now I see everyone elses and I want them all..LOL. I can't wait for the swap. Ya know when yer excited about something and it takes forever to get here but when ya don't want something to get here fast it does. Is there any good greenhouses around where the swap will be?

I "need" these!! Where do you go to purchase these beauties?--either at a garden center or reliable online source. Unfortunately,I will not be able to make it to the swap.

Sometimes you can find them in stores but usually only at places that carry slightly more unusual stuff.

I usually see the common white ones at nurseries in Texas that carry a nice selection of native plants, and used to see the double purple ones at the same types of nurseries, only not quite as often.

You can purchase seed of all kinds of daturas and common unamed brugmansias from several seed companies. I've linked one of them below. They are very slow to germinate (brugs seem slower than daturas) but worth the wait.

Named varieties of brugmansias are general propagated from cuttings. One source that carries several types of brugs in small containers is Select Seed Antique Flowers. You can find their website by googling. The Lowe's near us in Ardmore usually has a few (very few) brugs in large containers in late spring, but they are quite expensive.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Daturas from Thompson and Morgan

Dawn, Thanks for the info on the brugs and daturas! I have grown white single flowered daturas for years. Mine come back from the roots. I grew from seed two different varieties of the single white last year and they also came back from the roots this year. I recently planted some datura seeds, some are doubles, I think in purple and yellow. I am curious if they will grow as big as the single whites and if they will winter over? My seeds are barely up now. I love datura and brugmansia and am glad to know that other Okies grow them as well! Hope to see many blooms this year!!!

***Grannygreenthumb***...Do you know what Garden Center the lady has in Tulsa that you got your brug from? I live in Tulsa and wonder if she sells them here? How is your brug since you planted it in the ground?

***Beerhog*** Are you in zone 7a or 7b?? I planted three brugs in the ground this year and am debating on leaving them in the ground. I have sandy soil. This is my first year to grow them. I am growing many from cuttings and will keep them in pots until they are bigger. Do yours in the ground grow as tall as your picture every year and bloom well?? I have heard if they freeze to the ground they take longer to bloom. Let me know if you have any other tips growing them. Great job!!!
Joyce

I am in zone 7a. Mine freeze to the ground every year and grow about 8 to 10 feet tall each year. They start blooming late summer and up till frost. I just take a few cutting in before frost in case they do not come back but they always have shown back up.

My double yellows grow quite tall--easily 6' tall in a 5 gallon pot and 8-10' tall in the ground. My double purples don't get as large--maybe 3-4' in the ground. Mine are in clay, though, and it doesn't drain well in winter so I dig them up and overwinter them in pots in the garage. This year they bloomed on and off all winter in the garage in pots, but I did drag them outside on days the temps were above freezing so they could have lots of sunshine. If I had well-drained sandy loam, I'd take my chances and leave them in the ground, but I'd take cuttings like Beerhog does as back-ups, just in case.

What swap on the 18th? I certainly don't want to miss something.....

Did I miss something? Is there another swap coming up that I don't know about?

No, there's not another swap coming up as far as I know. (Anyone could, of course, organize one and then invite all of us to attend. LOL)

The post referring to the "swap on the 18th" was written on March 29th and was referring to the then-upcoming April 18th swap. Has it been almost a month already since we all were together for the swap in OKC?

Dawn

Oh I feel dumb. Maybe I should read the dates.
Dawn,
At the April swap I heard there was a fall swap too. When do you usually do that one?
I think we should have a mid June or July swap. I would be more than glad to organize or just help out. Is Norman a good location for everyone or should it be the same place as the last swap?

What does everyone think?

July is awfully hot to be doing any kind of transplanting. I try not to plant anything in July or August. Sometimes it can't be helped, but as a general rule, no.

Fall is a great time in OK for transplanting things. We are blessed with a long fall. I wish we had a long spring too :)

Lisa