Brugmansia

[TerdalFarm]

I love Brugmansia for a lot of reasons--nice foliage, astonishing flowers, great scent, interesting cultural connections.
I have heard it is root hardy around here and so can be grown as a perennial.
Last November, I wanted to leave ours in the ground with heavy mulch as the forecast was for an unusually warm winter.
W insisted that I dig it and bring it inside in a pot in the "ballroom." I did, but grumbled.
Was it worth the effort?
Take a look at it today:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-t ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_r-MvN4jW1sE/TARvH ... GP1424.JPG" /></a>
--Erik

[ROBRETI]

Erik,

It was worth wrestling with it I especially like its flowers being pinkish and not the original yellow. Are you going to trim the bush to be a round globe or do you let it grow to its own taste?
Rob

[ROBRETI]

Erik,

Also, with your climate, no wonder that themusical said: Oh what a wonderful morning, oh what a wonderful day......

Rob

[hardyjim]

Nice Eric
Seems early for flowers but I guess that's what happens when you start out with established plants!


Amazing the variability of these plants,the ones I had last year had smaller bug eaten leaves,
the ones I have this year have relatively huge furry leaves,they are little monsters!

[lucky1]

Ya that is a beautiful color, so is the yellow one although a little more common.

You're enjoying its beauty BECAUSE you listened to W.
Otherwise it might be a heap of slime in a corner.

Surprised that bugs munch on these, but then we don't know if they all croak right after doing so.

Barb

[TerdalFarm]

I cover this topic in my classes, but I'll try to summarize (and leave out the powerpoint slides...)
Most "toxic" plants have evolved to deliver a sub-lethal dose of the toxin to their usual herbivores.
The evolutionary explanation is that if they kill the bugs, they are imposing strong selection pressure for resistance to the toxin. Within a few generations, all the herbivores would be descended from the lucky few with mutations that made them resistant.
It is better for the plant to make the herbivore sick, but not to kill it. That way the herbivore can learn to avoid that plant, go on to eat others (competitors!) and pass on the genes that made it susceptible.
Many tropical plants, including Brugmansia, use alkaloids that target the nervous system. Might be an aid in learning by the insect.

Our nervous systems, at the cellular level, are much like those of insects and so are are also affected by their alkaloids. Perhaps more so than insects--I'm not sure.

I assume that the shamans who use Brugmansia know the toxicity of the local plants, how to prepare it, and their own tolerance. There is no way I would ever try it! I wash carefully with soap after merely handling mine. And I do all the care for it myself.

[BILL MA]

Very nice Erik,
It's a toss up for me which color I like better but they are both really nice. Looking good keep the pictures coming.

Bill

[lucky1]

Erik, of course, now that you've explained that it does make a lot of sense.
Boy, folks, aren't we grateful for the academics on the site that help us out, huh?
I know I am!

Barb

[hardyjim]

I find the flowers and leaves quite delicious and have never had ill affects




See?

http://www.etsy.com/error.php?error_id=8

[TerdalFarm]

What a long, strange trip its been....

[lucky1]

Trip? TRIP? OK, need a driver?
It's an age thingy...I think of travel first.

Barb

[TerdalFarm]

Age thingy: Barb, you don't look old enough to have gone to a Grateful Dead concert, or to know who they are.
I got to see Jerry Garcia three times. I think. --Erik