X marks the datura
August 07, 2015
As the day’s blistering heat slowly ebbs, datura (Datura wrightii) unfurls its white trumpets and scents the evening air. Plants I can enjoy at dusk or dawn help get me through the depths of an Austin summer.
All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
This is a tough plant that looks so delicate. It has a lot to offer a summer garden.
It’s tough enough to withstand a Texas summer, which is saying something. —Pam
Are they annuals there like they are here? I love them too.
No, they’re perennials here, Alison. —Pam
I was thinking about planting Datura this fall in the Phoenix area, I even purchased the seeds. However, I’m nervous about planting it after reading how toxic it can be. Do you have any thoughts regarding that? How have you resolved the danger issue? Seeing this had changed my mind again and I’m thinking about planting it.
I’ve resolved the danger issue by not eating them, Brian. I’m sorry if that sounds flip, but there are lots of common plants that are poisonous. But only if you eat them. Reasonable precautions, to my mind, include not planting it if you have young children or pets that might nibble; teaching older children never to taste a plant that they don’t know absolutely to be safe; not planting it near a vegetable bed, just in case the leaves could accidentally get picked for a salad. As for mine, it’s planted in the front garden, away from the street, where my dog won’t have a chance to nibble, if he were ever so inclined. —Pam
True! I’ve got a dog that eats my lemon grass, but nothing else. Another that eats my mint. Maybe I’ll plant it out front. Maybe I worry too much!
This year is my first time ever growing Datura, and I love them! I’m eager to add more varieties! Pam, how often do you water and fertilize yours? I hear they’re “heavy feeders”.
Oh, Wendy, I am so such a bad, bad gardener to my poor plants. I’d say they never get fed, although that’s not entirely true. Just this spring I spread a truckload of compost over all my beds for the first time since starting this garden. (Upcoming garden tour pressure, you know.) No doubt many of my plants would grow better if I paid more attention to composting, but they get by anyway. —Pam
Oh, and my sprinkler system runs once a week in summer, less in spring and fall, and not at all in winter unless we’re weirdly, exceptionally dry. —Pam
They are so beautiful & intensely fragrant — and seed themselves SO freely that I remove the flowers before the pods can form. Do you do this too, Pam? I thought they were annual in Md. but I find they come back. I don’t water or fertilize and they grow like a bad, if beautiful, weed! This year I’m trying a purple/white double one. The first one is just starting to open. So exciting! And yes, they do take the heat/humidity without batting an eyelash. Put one in a vase at bedtime – it’ll perfume your bedroom all night 🙂
I just took off the seedpods in hopes of getting more flowers, Ginny. Mine doesn’t flower a whole lot because it only gets a few hours of morning sun.
As for putting it in a vase by your bed, I read somewhere that even the fragrance can cause headaches in an enclosed space; they said something about a datura under an open bedroom window. Have you ever experienced that problem? —Pam
Hmmm, interesting, Pam. I know the whole thing is poisonous but I never thought about the fragrance being a problem. No, it doesn’t bother me at all (thankfully), but it’s still good to know! Thanks for the heads up.
Datura flowers always make me want to take up painting again. Not eating them, just seeing them:)
I’m glad you’re not eating them, Jeanne. That would be extremely bad. But painting them? Oh yes! —Pam
my potted wild freesias are blooming, drawing me to that corner!
How nice, Diana! —Pam
They grow easily from seed. I have some in pots started from seed we got at the Portland Fling. Already, they have those interesting big seed pods. I’m planning on saving seed and having many more of them next year in the ground. I love the elegance of white flowers.
The seedpods are outrageous, aren’t they? A crazy finish to a big, beautiful flower. —Pam
These are so gorgeous – I’ve always loved datura and celebrate every year when the large one in a bed close to the front door reappears. There’s just one thing – the plant I have? Those flowers do not have any fragrance I can detect. The bees still find it, along with the moths that are drawn to the night blooms, but as to gently perfuming our front porch? Nope and not happening.
I have two other plants out closer to the street and haven’t caught either of them in bloom as of yet so can’t report on their aromatic properties. They are still small but I have high hopes that next year they’ll take off and put on a more typical Datura show!
How interesting, Deb. I wonder if it’s a timing issue? Maybe it’s fragrant in the early evening, when it first opens, rather than later at night or in the early morning? Or does it just not smell good no matter what time you sniff it? —Pam
It does not smell at all. Not ever. Not when it first opens, not in the middle of the night (and yes, I did get up and check) and not in the early AM. Just, nothing. A scentless variety I suppose. I love the blooms, regardless.
This plant is the highlight of hot summer nights for me as well. Love to be outside when it opens. I can always tell it’s getting close because the bees will be buzzing right in front of the flower
Brenda
The bees love those enormous flowers, don’t they? —Pam