Its funny I was thinking if any of you know some aging hippie packrats they probably have a bottle cutter. When I was young making glasses out of bottles was popular and there was a cheap cutter that scored the bottle and then you dangled this thing in and hit it on the inside I think. I have a crafty friend a bit older than I who keeps everything and I was going to ask her if she has one! Its nice to know that they still can be gotten - tho the one in the picture is more elaborate than what I remember. It looks like a beautiful project. Good luck and post pics.

I am going to put this here so other newbies can learn from this post also. 1) cuttings... most people dont bother with cuttings from datura because they come true from seed. 2) Varigation, it could be that your plant has something it its genes for the varigation but if you want to market that varigation then most societies want to have the varigation in the seedlings for at least 3 generations and then you have to name it and get it listed with the brug societies. For the pollination, well, nature usually takes care of itself, usually early morning or late evening bugs will do the job. It will always be an annual, the difference between an annual and a perennial is that an annual will die in our winters but a perennial will die to the ground but resprout in the spring. I killed my triple yellow datura last year.. good thing I got seeds! Here is a link for you to start.. good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: American Brugmansia/Datura Society

I have some Cover Blubbers, but I got mold on a couple of them and it didn't come off. The company replaced them, which is awesome (I was just informing them, when I told them, not expecting anything from it except maybe tips for cleaning the mold), but I'm really careful about what I use them for now. They're fantastic, even given the limitations. The harder kinds might be less prone to having mold stick. My answer of what I do is the same for only a slice removed, though that might not have been clear--and it might not work for you, or how you want to store things, but just to be clear: I use plastic wrap, and put it right up against the flesh, which means, pushing into the wedge area that has been cut out. If it needs help staying in place, I'll wrap another piece over it, but I always leave half the melon free, especially a cantaloupe, so the rind can breathe. Works for me. :)

moving from the tip inward... you should be able to tell annual growth ... this years is still green... last years might be light tan but still smooth ... 3rd year back.. might be thickening.. and darkening ... more bark looking... etc ... measure each ... and then average them out.. and you will find an annual growth rate for your ... lets say it growing a foot or 2 a year ... do you really think.. a light shearing is going to beat this beast back.. lol.. probably not ... so then you are down to a large ladder you can fall off of.. or hiring it out.. etc ... bottom line.. imo ... get rid of it ... its not the plant for your space ... im going out on a limb here.. but i bet that the kind of advice you get at a bigbox ... where your hardware man might not really know his trees ... but on the other hand.. if this came from a nursery...i might suggest that dude ... go get a job at the hardware store... and get out of horticulture ... it is not an arb ... but i dont know my warm zone alternatives ... though it could be the juniper mentioned above .. though they sure arent that aggressive in ground freeze MI ... ken