The Datura inoxia 'Evening Fragrance' that I grew from seed this year are flowering. I noticed two of them that were really getting big and close to flowering and figured that when the sun went down and it got dark they would open. And they did!
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| Datura are called Moonflower because they open at night, and are so big and bright I could see them from across the garden even without a flashlight. |
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| The bud has just a touch of lavender, which disappears once the flower opens fully. |
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| The flower is about 7 inches wide from edge to edge |
Datura are also called devil's trumpets, because they face upward, like
devils blowing a trumpet. Brugmansias are known as angel's trumpets,
because they face downward. The two are related, and both come from
central
and South America, where they are considered wildflowers. Datura flowers
only open for one night and I could only pick up the scent if I poked
my nose right into the flower, unlike Brugmansia flowers, which stay
open for several days and develop a very strong, lovely scent that often
wafts all over the garden. These two remained open all day on a very
cloudy day, but the first one that opened over a week ago had collapsed
by dinnertime. They're not pretty plants, being large and sprawling, but
I do like the big velvety leaves.
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| Still open mid-afternoon the next day |
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| Today's flower after our recent summer rain |
There are double-flowered Datura as well, and they come in other colors,
most notably purple. I'm going to try growing some double purple ones
from seed next year. They were so easy to grow from seed that I'll
probably just start more next year rather than try to over-winter them
inside (I have too many plants that will all be crowding around my
single south-facing window inside all winter, desperate for a little
light). Another common name for Datura is thornapple, because the
seedpod that develops after the flower is pollinated is round and
prickly. They are pollinated by night-flying sphynx moths, which are a
hummingbird imitator, but honeybees and other daytime insects have been
known to burrow into them before they open.
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| Incipient seedpod |
Datura inoxia is an herbaceous perennial grown as an annual, hardy to
Zone 9. Mine are growing in pots in the gravel garden area, next to my
Brugmansias and Agaves, and also on the front porch, both west-facing
sites that get lots of sun and radiated heat from gravel and concrete.
Like the Brugs, they need constant watering to perform their best. They
are in the Solanaceae family, like tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant, but
they are absolutely not for ingestion, containing dangerously toxic
amounts of atropine, scopolamine and hydroscyamine.
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| Four more flowers on the way |
Wildflower Wednesday occurs on the fourth Wednesday of every month. Check out Gail Eichelberger's blog clay and limestone
here, the host for Wildflower Wednesday, where she is posting today about blue mist flower. Plenty of other bloggers will be posting about wildflowers too! Check them out.
