Angels Trumpet or brugmansia is astounding sub-tropical, herbaceous plants with plenty of gardening pleasure. They are famous for their large trumpet shaped flower, color and fragrance. To grow them successfully is not confined to green thumbs they have pretty tolerance for beginners as well. Once it is planted, the next step is to keep them in good physical shape. It is worthwhile to say them nocturnal as their flowers release fragrance in evening. Yet they are not as widely used as landscape plant in Pakistan as they ought to be as, for being hallucinated as poisonous plant.
Avery high percentage of house plants like dumbcane, hyacinth, elephant ears and many others are poisonous too but children are always forbidden from oral intake of any of the plant part. Brugs can successfully be grown outdoors in gardens and in pots as well. They are amongst few eye catching plants that are really joyous and easy to grow. They are adaptable to grow in variety of climatic zones with diverse growth responses.
In tropical climates, they show evergreen behavior while in subtropical climates stunted growth is seen in scorching summers and pretty happy in winters. In areas with harsh winters they totally shed their leaves and sleep the whole season and awake with fresh sprouts by the onset of spring.
For subtropical locations, partial shade with patterned and blemished sunshine all year round is ideal for them. They are too unhappy and stressed in dry, scorching May and June, especially when exposed to even a little drought and direct sunlight. No need to worry for their rapid wilt, this is just transportation shock; they soon regain turgidity within couple of days when transplanted in the time of low temperature conditions. They have good tolerance against cold but respond depressingly to prolong frosts. They are good pot plants too, but grow vigorously when they are not pot bound and being watered daily in hot summer months. Their fibrous and extensively growing root system is always happy to work with much of available loamy soil and water.
Quality and quantity of water is important as they show remarkable finesse when irrigated with water of pH 6.5-7.5. Its too hard to please them with chlorinated or brackish water as they readily show the symptoms of stunted growth followed by leaf shedding. Brugs are heavy feeders and require fertilizers in early spring and summer for profuse flowering. Potted brugs show positive response when 10 grams of NPK @ 17: 17:17 is applied while in ground NPK @ 15:10:10 per plant performs best when applied in spring and monsoon. Application of nitrogenous fertilizer, in early growing stages surpasses the juvenile period and leads the plant to early maturity.
Propagating through cuttings does well as compared to grow them from seeds. When they are grown from seeds they take couple of years to burst into bloom. Pruning is usually done to maintain the shape of mature plants which should not be practiced until the plants have developed “Y figure with their main leader trunk. If their trunk has attained Y stage, it is about to have a flush of prolific flowers. Pruning, forces the emergence of more limbs which leads to bountiful flowering. Prune lateral branches to make brugs bushy. Newest growth closer to the trunk when snipped off make more compact look as they dont flower below “Y” on their stems.
If they are popped off into mummified flowers before reaching maturity, it might be due to cutting taken above “Y of the trunk. Some varieties have variegated foliage too while others have dark green leaves with variation in flower colors right from bloom till senescence. Plant with such a fantastic rewarding features enhance the beauty of garden as they add scenic splendor if combined with low heighted plants like maxima grass, ferns, alpeniums and cordylines. If given adequate light, water, and warmth, they actively grow and bloom in containers even through indoors in winters. In our garden, we are watching them in dormant state these days; probably its time to sleep for brugmansia with little new growth waiting for spring to see them on the go.
The authors are associated with the Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.