Angel's Trumpet

August 2012

I have an angel trumpet that I rooted from a cutting. When and how much do I cut it back in the fall? Is there a special way I need to cut it to make cuttings?

Angel trumpet is the common name for Brugmansia and Datura. Brugmansia is less winter hardy than Datura which is hardy statewide. If you live in central Arkansas, you can plant the Brugmansia in the ground and let it die to the ground in the fall and hopefully come back next spring. Or you can leave it in the container and move the pot inside and use as a houseplant, put in a greenhouse if you have access to one, or store it in the garage for winter protection. If the plant is protected and doesn't die to the ground, it will become a larger plant next season and bloom earlier. It can be left whole or cut back. If planted in the ground, it will freeze to the ground with a killing frost, but you can take cuttings before that occurs. If you do cut it back, it roots readily –make the cuttings 3-4 inches in length.

October 2006

My husband and I just returned from Ontario, Canada and while visiting there we noticed the many flowering Angel Trumpets growing in large containers on the street and also in some of the B & B gardens. I did ask the manager of one establishment about their winter hardiness and she said they were left in the ground. Can that be so? The plants (trunk) were as large as the one we have hat I have kept in the garage for the last 2 winters. I also have a friend who planted her Angel Trumpet in the ground and she cuts it back in the fall, before a killing frost, and she says it has come back the next spring. We are in Zone 7. Can you please tell me what the best thing to do is?

I cannot possibly believe the brugmansia—(Angels Trumpet) survive all winter outdoors in Canada, unless there is a variety I don’t know about! The plant is listed as a zone 9 plant, but we have had it over winter occasionally - (depending on variety) in zone 7 (Central Arkansas). If however, you want to form small trees with sizable tree trunks, you will need to over winter them indoors. Outdoors, even if they survive, they will die to the ground and start growing again after the soil warms up in late spring. They can produce a good sized plant in one season, but not large woody trunks. The plants typically don't begin to bloom well until late summer to early fall. Then they can bloom up until frost. They can be protected in a garage or storage shed, or grown indoors as a houseplant for the winter.

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