Angel’s Trumpet ( Brugmansia )
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- Angel’s Trumpet Oct 08
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- Angel’s Trumpet Oct 08
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- Trumpet vine blooming first week of May 2009
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- Trumpet vine blooming first week of May 2009
This will grow as a shrub but can be coaxed into a tree form by the usual pruning of lower branches. If you protect the trunk in cooler months ( insulated pipe wrap works very well ) it will grow faster and develop a tree form quicker. In time it can reach 20′ in height.
Grow this plant in full sun to filtered shade.
The flowers come in white, pink, red, yellow or orange.
Do not cut this plant to make it bushy, it will do so on its own. When the limb branches, flowers will form there.
The base of this plant gets scraggly looking with time. You’ll either want to prune it to tree shape or plant something in front of it to cover the bottom.
This plant is easily propagated from cuttings. To propagate you cut off a limb, cut it into 2′ chunks and stick the sticks in the ground. One person told me she had done that. Two years later they reach the second floor of her home. So this is a be sure you love it before you plant it plant.
These plants are native to the high Andes where they grow as a scrub brush. The high trade in brugmansia has made it endangered there.
To form this into a tree, trim lower branches and protect the main stem in the colder weather with pipe insulation. It can form a 20′ tree.
Some say the name comes from the trumpet shaped flowers. I’ve also heard that the leaves are highly toxic and if you ingest it you’ll hear the angel’s trumpets calling for you. The leaves when dried and smoked are also an extremely strong hallucinogenic, don’t smoke them. Despite the toxicity the plant is used as a medicine in the Sibundoy Valley of Columbia. It is also used in witchcraft by the men of the local tribes. Tropane alkaloids (atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine) are the culprit, the same chemicals found in belladonna and henbane.
It has also been known to send gardeners to the ER with pupils so dilated the irises were hardly visible. The toxins easily pass through the skin. Wear gloves when pruning.
For more information:
Brugmansia Growers
American Brugmansia & Datura Society
Brugmansia Forum – Garden Web
6 Responses to 'Angel’s Trumpet ( Brugmansia )'
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Last week we had a few nights down into the high 20’s F. Some of the newer leaves have curled up and some of the older ones turned yellow but it is mostly weathering the cold weather fine.
admin
7 Jan 08 at 1:39 pm
This plant has weathered summer well. It wilts in the afternoon, I think that will stop as it gets older. I ended up moving it to a sunnier location.
It is extremely easy to propagate. Cut off a branch that is about a half to an inch thick and about a foot long. Remove any leaves from the bottom portion and stick it in the ground. You should see new leaves in about 4 to 6 weeks.
ljmacphee
25 Aug 08 at 11:40 am
Strangest thing’s happened. This plant started blooming again this week but with yellow flowers.
ljmacphee
19 Nov 08 at 6:53 am
This plant took a beating from Ike. I put a cutting out front. It’s done much better in full sun. The one out front kept it’s leaves all winter and is about as large as the one out back. The one in part sun lost it’s leaves over the winter but leafed back out about two weeks ago.
ljmacphee
25 Mar 09 at 8:31 pm
The Angel’s Trumpet recovered nicely from Ike, bloomed in the spring, lost all it’s leaves in the drought and is now leafing back out and flowering.
I’ve another one out front that kept all it’s leaves through the drought.
timestocome
9 Sep 09 at 5:03 pm
These took a beating during the Great Freeze of 2010. The leaves turned brown and the branches turned mushy. I cut them back to the ground. We’ll see if they return in the warm weather?
timestocome
21 Jan 10 at 10:55 am