"Angel's Trumpets" Beautiful Addition
To Home's Landscape on Drexel Drive

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

 

If you've driven by 213 Drexel Drive, in Sulphur Springs, in the past few days, you've been sure to notice the beautiful yellow flowers that grace the yard of Steve and Beth Brown. The tropical flowers are scientifically called Daturas or Brugmansias, but are commonly called "Angel's Trumpets," because of their trumpet shape. They are fragrant plants that open up after dark and remain open until full sun hits them, the next morning. Those located at the Brown home add a riot of color to the landscape.

"Some people didn't think I could grow them in this area," advised Beth Brown. "But, I cut them back every year and take good care of them, then when the weather gets cool in the autumn, they bloom profusely, and add to the landscape's beauty!"

The "Angel's Trumpets" are native to South America and offer an extremely fragrant, sweet intoxicating smell. They prefer soil conditions that are relatively damp (so they certainly should have felt "at home" the past few days) and they require temperatures that are warm in the daytime and cool at night.

 

 

 

 

"Angel's Trumpets" are in the solanaceae family, joining the tomato plant, potatoes, and petunias, that are typically known as "night shade" plants. The flower, the leaves, and the stem of the plants are extremely toxic to both human and animals.

A few years ago, the plants were know to be used by teenaged youth in California for making a hallucinating tea, that caused many youth to be both crippled and an excruciating death, because the plants are so poisonous. Do not ingest any form of the plant!

The "Angel's Trumpets" are relatively easy to grow, when watered profusely and kept moist, during the summer months. Recommendations call for fertilizing the plants at least every two to three weeks with a commonly used fertilizer that is balanced in the formula of 17-17-17, to boost the blooms on the plants. Foliage production can be boosted by using a good dose of ammonium nitrate, 34-0-0, during the early part of the summer.

If you haven't noticed the beautiful "Angel's Trumpets," at the Brown home on Drexel Drive, you're certain to want to make a trip by to view the beautiful addition to the Hopkins County landscape!

 

 

_____