About Brugmansias

Several different colors and
forms of Brugmansias.

They were impossible to find at most Puget Sound nurseries at that time. I believe I found my first one at Molback's, in Woodinville (an all-day trip to get to for me). I also purchased some small plants mail-order, from a couple of eBay sellers. Having a small greenhouse, I always tried to find plants early in the season. The more of a head-start you can give them, the earlier you will have blossoms on them. Even now, if you can find these plants in a local nursery, they are not available until June.

I decided to start propagating Brugmansias to sell, because they have been so hard to find in nurseries in the Puget Sound area, early in the season. I knew people with small greenhouses, and other means of protecting young plants, would like to get a head start on them. I started building my propagating stock two years ago, and this winter will be the first for me to have starts overwintered and ready to go early.

If you are looking for a special focal plant for your patio, deck or yard, that has absolute WOW factor, you should consider a Brugmansia plant.

A fully loaded Dr. Seuss Brugmansia cultivar.

Brugmansias are often called Angels Trumpets, in descriptive contrast to its cousin, Datura, which has a nickname of Devil's Trumpet. Both plants are highly toxic. The toxins they contain are used by indigenous peoples of South America for shamanic purposes; however, it is a very dangerous practice, which they acknowledge. It is very easy to overdose and die.

Even though they are poisonous when ingested, touching the plants causes no problems, for non-sensitive people.  There are people that are sensitive to many plants, and if you are such a person, you should be careful in handling Brugmansias.  Much has been made on the internet of the toxicity of Brugmansias. While I would hate to see someone die, using it for a 'high', I also would hate to see people avoid this plant because of its poisonous reputation. It is no more or no less poisonous than our common rhododendron, as well as many other familiar plants we frequently grow.

The flower's color and growth habit depend on the species. Some species hold their flowers out slightly horizontal, others dangle the flower straight down. Flower colors range from yellow to golden to pink to peach and white. Most flower blooms change color as they mature. A bloom can last up to four or five days, depending on the temperature -- the hotter the weather, the shorter the life of a bloom.

There has been amazing, rapid work done in creating new hybrids in the past decade. There are now many, many named cultivars, with a greater range in plant growth habit and flower coloration and now, double and even triple flowers have been developed. It is important when choosing a hybrid cultivar to read about it carefully. Some hybrids are just not as vigorous as others. When growing a Brugmansia in the Pacific Northwest, it is best to choose vigorous types, since our growing conditions are less than ideal.

Brugmansias are sub-tropical and, therefore, not cold tolerant. Herein lays the challenge of growing them near Seattle. Most people grow their Brugmansias in containers, for ease of moving them to protection from November to April. Some plant them in the ground, then dig them up again for overwintering inside. We cover more of this in Overwintering, the next section.

If you can overwinter a plant, you will be rewarded by bloom formation early in the season, in its second year. Whereas the first year of the plant is spent putting on sizeable growth to get to the blooming stage, a second year (or older) plant starts putting out bud-forming growth right away in the spring.

They become rather large plants in short order, but tolerate pruning to keep in check. In the ground, in frost-free areas they become small trees, over 15 feet tall and almost as wide.