First Datura of the New Year!

The first Datura of 2013!

And we're off!  As most of you who've read my garden blog in the past know, the Datura, or "Devil's Trumpet," has been one of my favorite growing endeavors since moving down to Texas.  This particular variety of Datura is called the Triple Black Currant Swirl.

When I originally purchased this plant I was looking to buy a Brugmansia, or "Angel's Trumpet," but I guess that was just not to be. Since buying  this back in 2010 I've tried desperately to purchase an actual Angel's Trumpet, but with no luck.  I've purchased plants (which also turned out to be Datura) and seeds.  The seeds never even sprouted for me, even though I followed every direction given to me regarding planting them to the letter.  It's been very disappointing.  However, this particular variety of Datura is beautiful, sweetly fragrant, and I just love it and look forward to every single bloom.

Side view of the trumpet flower.

What's the difference, you may ask?  Well, Angels Trumpet plants have huge trumpet flowers that hang facing downwards, as though the angels are blowing their trumpets from the skies.  With a Datura, or Devils Trumpet, the trumpet flowers are facing upwards, as if they were blowing toward the sky from hell.

Last spring, rather late in the season (April), I planted approx 140 Datura seeds and attempted to grow a batch to sell at a local nursery.  Of those original 140 seeds, approximately 70 grew to a repottable size.  After transplant and two repots to larger pots, I wound up with a total of 22 plants.  I managed to sell--get this--FOUR of them at a Garage Sale last August.  The local nursery that I grew them for has since closed it's doors, and I have no use for these other plants.  I'm considering actually putting them into the ground just to see how they tolerate the sandy soil of Corpus Christi.  It will be a fun experiment, and if they do take off, they will make an exceptionally big and beautiful display of purple flowers unparallelled by anyone else in the neighborhood!  I'm actually looking forward to it.  I just wish that these weren't so darned poisonous!!

Top View of the Datura flower showing the third layer.

The Datura is a relative of the Tomato Plant, as strange as that may seem, and is extremely susceptible to the attention to the horned tomato worm.  Last year, this very plant was attacked by one of them and within 4 hours half the plant was completely gone.  I killed the worm, but another one found it the next day and finished off the job.  Lucky for me, the plant made a complete comeback, but it shows the scars.  I have a lot of completely dead looking limbs on this plant, and you can actually see them in the background.

If you have any questions about Datura, or if you want seeds, please feel free to contact me by leaving a reply in the comments section.

Happy Gardening!