Last week I wrote about Four O’Clocks, a colorful, night-blooming flower. This week I want to share another. Datura meteloides has a number of common names: Angel trumpet, Devil’s trumpet, shrubby Moonflower, Jamestown weed or Thornapple.
These are easily started from seed and thrive in full sun. The blue-gray foliage smells bad if crushed, but the flowers smell wonderful. They open at nightfall and close again when sun strikes them the next morning.
The photo slideshow below shows the blooms closed up tight, then partially open, then fully open. (You may need to select 'View In Browser' to see the slide show advance automatically.) This opening process takes about 30 minutes, so you can sit and watch them unfurl. It is entertaining to watch the honeybees try to force blooms open so they can grab a quick nip of nectar before they head to the hive at dusk.
These plants are heat lovers and drought tolerant. They are listed as cold hardy in zone 9-11, but mine die to the ground (zone 7) with the first freeze and have returned every year since 1993. They will also reseed themselves from the ping-pong ball sized pods that are covered with sharp prickles. Mine love the heat next to the foundation of our farmhouse.
If I allow it, they will grow six or more feet across, blocking my entrance walk. I chop them back to keep them in bounds. Daturas come in white, yellow and purple. They can be distinguished from their cousins the Brugmansias because Daturas hold their blooms upright while Brugmansias droop like bells. Brugmansias have a wider color spectrum, including a particularly lovely apricot.
One drawback: All parts of the plant are extremely toxic, and are very closely related to the toxic jimson weed that killed some of America’s earliest settlers (hence the common name, Jamestown weed). If you have young children or a dog that nibbles on your shrubs, take a pass on this one. Good news: Deer won't touch them.
