I've never heard of propagating a Datura from cuttings. I have always been told it was seeds, but I could have always been told wrong. I haven't looked for a proof positive answer, because, though I see quite a few of these absolutely beautiful plants growing in people's yards, I do not know them, therefore, I just can't walked up to them & start asking questions. I purchased seeds online of two trumpet plants. I tried sowing them last year without any luck. This year was off too a bad start as well. Unlike the first try, these did not even germinate. The seeds rotted in the soil. Damping off killed my first set. I am currently in my third attempt. It has been about two weeks since they have sprouted, & things seem to be looking brighter.

Note that var. is a botanical category that never refers to a garden cultivar specifically. A cultivar, such as the one shown may be a non-hybrid garden form of a var. but the name of the var. is never correctly the name of the cultivar - except where they have the same name because of a cultivar being grown for years as a var. due to now-obsolete naming conventions or erroneous horticultural usage of a botanical name. In this case a cultivar with such a naming history may come to be differentiated like this: Datura metel var. fastuosa 'Fastuosa' (using the name being discussed as a hypothetical example only and not saying that is the correct presentation of the cultivar shown).

We have a double purple datura plant this year and has produced many blooms. So far we do not see any seed pods. Does anyone know why or what to expect? Also something is eating holes in the leaves of these and our white datura plants. So much so that they are not growing and will not produce any white flowers this year. What can we use to prevent pests on moonflower plants. None of our other plants are affected.

I have over-wintered successfully 2 Datura Metel Purple Swirl and a triple yellow. I kept them above 60 and although they lost most of the leafs the few remaining were constantly covered with aphids. I sprayed and washed them and they made it. I'm not sure if I want to repeat it this year. I did not have much success this year with the seeds, so I'm still deciding. I will try something new if I keep them for another year - Systemic Pesticide, which worked on all my other plants that were plagued with pests over the winter. Good luck, whatever you decide. AncaG