There are few trees that can stop a person in their tracks like a Brugmansia can. In their native climates, brugmansias can grow to be up to 20 feet tall. Not at all an impressive height for a tree, but what makes them so impressive is that the entire tree can be covered in foot long trumpet shaped flowers.
Brugmansia is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae, native to subtropical regions of South America, along the Andes from Colombia to northern Chile, and also in southeastern Brazil. They are known as Angel’s Trumpets, sharing that name with the closely related genus Datura. Brugmansia are long-lived, woody trees or bushes, with pendulous, not erect, flowers, that have no spines on their fruit. Datura species are herbaceous bushes with erect (not pendulous) flowers, and most have spines on their fruit.
Brugmansias are commonly called Angel Trumpets. Brugmansias are frequently confused with or thought to be related to daturas, which are also commonly called Angel Trumpets. This is an incorrect assumption though. Bragmansia and daturas are not related to one another. The brugmansia is a tree, while the datura is a shrub. The two different angel trumpets can be distinguished by the direction of the flowers. In brugmansias, the flower hangs down. In daturas, the flower stands up.
Species
Brugmansia arborea. Andes (Ecuador to northern Chile).
Brugmansia aurea. Andes (Colombia to Ecuador).
Brugmansia sanguinea. Andes (Colombia to Peru and Bolivia).
Brugmansia suaveolens. Southeast Brazil west to Bolivia and Peru.
Brugmansia versicolor. Ecuador.
Brugmansia vulcanicola. Colombia.
As with Datura, all parts of Brugmansia are highly toxic. The plants are sometimes ingested for recreational or shamanic intoxication as the plant contains the tropane alkaloids scopolamine and atropine; however because the potency of the toxic compounds in the plant is variable, the degree of intoxication is unpredictable and can be fatal.
Many people look at brugmansias and assume that they can only be grown in tropical climates. While it is true that brugmansias are tropical trees, they are actually very easy for someone in a colder climate to grow and enjoy. Brugmansias can be easily grown in containers.
Brugmansias do quite well grown in containers and can be easily grown by a northern gardener in a container. Plant your brugmansia in a rather large container, at least two feet in diameter. Your container brugmansia can go outside when the nighttime temperatures stay above 50F and can remain outside until the fall when the nighttime temperatures start to fall below 50F.
Be sure to keep your container brugmansia thoroughly watered while you keep it outside. They do need a lot of water and your container brugmansia may need to be watered up to twice a day.
Most brugmansias will not grow to their full height if they are grown in a container. At the most, the typical container grown brugmansia will reach a height of about 12 feet. Of course, if this is too high, a container grown brugmansia tree can be easily trained into a smaller tree or even a shrub size. Pruning your container brugmansia to a desired height or shape will not affect the size or frequency of the flowers.
Once the weather turns colder and you need to bring your brugmansia in from the cold, you have two options for over wintering your container brugmansia.
The first is to simply treat your container brugmansia as a houseplant. Put it in a sunny location and water as the soil dries out. You probably will not see any flowers while your container brugmansia lives in the house but it has nice foliage.
Your other option is to force the container brugmansia into dormancy. To do this, put your brugmansia in a cool (but not cold), dark place, such as a garage, a basement or a closet. If you would like, you may trim your container brugmansia back by about a third before you store it. This will not hurt the plant and may make storage a little easier for you.
One the plant is stored, water it sparingly, only about once per month. Be warned, your container brugmansia is going to start to look pretty pathetic. It will lose its leaves and some of the outer branches may die. Do not panic. As long as the trunk of the brugmansia tree is still green, your container brugmansia is alive and well. The tree is only sleeping.
A month or so before it is warm enough to take your container brugmansia back outside, start to water your brugmansia more frequently, about once a week. If you have room in your house, bring the container brugmansia out of its storage space or set up a fluorescent light bulb to shine on the brugmansia. In about a week you will start to see some leaves and branches start to grow. You will find that your container brugmansia will come out of dormancy very quickly.
Once you put your container brugmansia back outside, its growth will be very rapid and you will have a lush, breath taking, flower filled brugmansia tree again in just a matter of weeks.
Brugmansia are easily grown in a moist, fertile, well-drained soil, in full sun to part shade, in frost-free climates. They begin to flower in mid to late spring in warm climates and continue into the fall, often continuing as late as early winter in warm conditions. In cool winters, outdoor plants need protection, but the roots are hardy and will resprout in April or May. The species from the higher elevations, B. sanguinea and B. vulcanicola, prefer moderate temperatures and cool nights, and may not flower if temperatures are very hot. Most Brugmansias may be propagated easily by rooting 10–20 cm cuttings taken from the end of a branch during the summer.
Several hybrids and numerous cultivars have been developed for use as ornamental plants. B. × candida is a hybrid between B. aurea and B. versicolor, while B. × insignis is a hybrid between B. suaveolens and B. versicolor. Some cultivars of B. × candida produce white, yellow, pale orange or pink flowers; B. × insignis produces white or peach flowers; B. versicolor flowers start off white and turn salmon pink. There are cultivars producing double flowers, and some with variegated leaves.
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Brugmansia aurea is best known for its large, vigorous leaves, which are the largest of all the Brugmansia species. Depending on cultural conditions, they can be up to 28 inches long and 14 inches wide. Flowers of aurea range in color from yellow through golden and apricot, white and pink, and are generally held in a horizontal or nodding position with the calyx covering the narrow portion of the corolla tube. . They range in size from 6 inches to 12 inches long. The long peaks, from 1 1/2 to 3 inches long, are very distinctive.
Brugmansia versicolor is easy to recognize, with the flowers being the largest of all the Brugmansias, reaching a length of 12 to 20 inches. The base of the flower tube, or corolla, is thin and long and is always clearly visible outside the calyx, and can be up to half the total length of the flower. The flower is trumpet shaped, widening into large frills on the flower edge with curved peaks that are 1 to 2 1/2 inches long. The flowers are held vertically, or pendant. It blooms in bursts, but very impressive about this species is the number of blooms at the same time. When in bloom it will appear as one mass of flowers, followed by periods with no flowers at all while new buds are forming. Versicolor flowers first open white then eventually take on their final color that can range from apricot or peach to pink or white.
Brugmansia suaveolens is probably the most widespread variety of all Brugmansia. The flowers range from 9 1/2 to 13 inches long and are funnel shaped with short peaks, usually only 1/2 to 1 inch long. They are mainly white to creamy white in color, yellow or pink, and are held in a nodding position, with the narrow part of the corolla tube visible outside of the calyx. Suaveolens flowers in bursts but is usually never completely without flowers. It is one of the strongest growing species of Brugmansia.