Two different kinds of plants are commonly called angel's trumpets. One needs you to be its angel by coddling it indoors all winter. The other needs you to be its devil, disposing of excess seed pods lest its offspring take over the garden.
So closely related that they were once classified under the same botanical name, both have huge, fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers that open in the evening. Nevertheless, it's easy to tell them apart.
Brugmansia, the tender plant that needs indoor protection in winter, produces dangling flowers. Datura, the prolific self-seeding annual, has upright flowers.
A word of caution: Both plants are poisonous to humans and animals. Don't grow either one if there's any chance a child or pet might nibble on any plant parts.
Datura's prickly seed pods earn it another common name, thorn apple. As the pods ripen, they dump their load of seeds. I allow some to fall to keep my patch of angel's trumpets going, but then use gloves to protect my hands while gathering excess pods for sharing or disposal.
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Most often seen in pure white, Datura can also have purple or yellow flowers. The showy plants often stand an impressive three or four feet tall by season's end.
When Datura is so prolific and easy to grow, why would anyone bother growing the kind of angel's trumpets that must be dragged indoors for the winter? Brugmansia is worth the extra effort because the plants are even more spectacular, growing bigger and better with every year, adorned with dozens of dangling, dazzling trumpet-shaped flowers.
A shrubby plant with woody stems, Brugmansia also comes in a much wider range of colors, including cream, melon, orange, pink, red, scarlet, yellow or white.
In our region, Brugmansia is usually grown in a container to make it easier to move the plant indoors for winter and back outside in spring after the danger of frost has passed.
Gardeners lucky enough to have a roomy sunroom can continue to enjoy the fragrant flowers throughout the winter. But Brugmansia is a wide, shrubby plant that can eventually grow 12 feet tall or more. Most of us don't have room for such a large plant indoors or the strength to move it in and out with the seasons. Fortunately, Brugmansia is a forgiving plant that tolerates various solutions to this problem.
It's okay to cut your plant back to a size you can manage. It's also okay to store it in a dormant state in a cool, frost-free spot such as a basement. Water once a month. If your plant is threatening to outgrow its container, just slip it out of its pot early next spring and trim the roots.
