Garden

[gardenman]

I've a had a datura nestled alongside of a brick chimney on the south side of the house right up against the foundation for the last ten years or so. It's a good microclimate for one. The south facing wall absorbs heat and the chimney stays warm all winter so I can cheat a few planting zones in that corner.

Datura's are marginally hardy (at best) here dying back to the roots then rebounding the following year. I thought mine had died during the 2015 winter as there were no signs of growth from it all last year. This past week while out weeding, I saw it had started to grow again. Not much, only about eight inches or so where it would normally be four or five feet tall by now, but it's still alive. Somehow, someway the roots survived and after lying dormant for eighteen months it decided now was the time to start growing again.

I won't get any flowers from it this year, but I'm letting it grow and in the fall I'll take a few cuttings from it that I'll winter over inside to be sure I have a fresh plant in the spring. It's amazing that it could lie dormant for eighteen months and then find the energy to spring back to life, but I'm glad it did. It's just a gorgeous plant when in flower with the large yellow trumpet shaped flowers hanging down.

I'm just glad I didn't plant anything else in that space. Now I've got my datura back. Mother Nature is a pretty impressive thing.

[JustJazzmom]

My 'Lady Baltimore' perennial hibiscus is the absolute last thing to emerge from the ground with green stems now about 6" in height. It gets sun but I'm certain the brunnera below it (I planted a few around the space yrs. ago) is not helping it get more sun down to the area. I may have to cut back some leaves or remove two of the plants completely.

[gardenman]

Yeah, the perennial hibiscus (hibisci?) are real slow to emerge. My datura never was though. It would often emerge before the frosts were done. There was no growth from it last year. Absolutely nothing. I'd kept an eye on it earlier but still nothing, now it's back! I'm thinking some small part of the root system survived and just gathered its strength until it was ready to grow again and apparently it's now ready to grow. It's really come back from the dead. I've never had a plant disappear that long and then come back. I'll take a few cuttings this fall and carry them over the winter. By spring the cuttings will likely be there to four feet tall. It's a pretty robust grower.

[Lilysmom]

@gardenman, I had to go look up what a datura was as I read your post.  What a pretty plant.  Love the flowers.  Surprises like that are a nice thing.

I have planted for the first time clematis.  I hope they survive (I planted two). I don't know much about them.  The first one was planted a month ago and it looks ok.  The second yesterday.  I normally am not a fan of creeping plants.  Paranoid about them being invasive I think.

good luck with your datura.  Post a photo when it is in bloom.  I would love to see it. LM

[gardenman]

@Lilysmom. The good news is you don't have to worry about clematis becoming invasive unless you plant the wilder varieties like sweet autumn clematis (Clematis paniculata.) Those can get invasive, but most clematis are not at all invasive.

My datura has long yellow trumpet shaped flowers that hang down. It's a very impressive plant. In the South they grow as trees and are just covered in flowers. Mine would typically get about thirty or so flowers a season. They have a great fragrance too. You don't want to grow them if you've got any crazy teens around as datura can be used to get a very dangerous (often fatal) high. A few people die each year from trying to get high from daturas.

[JustJazzmom]

Daturas are members of the morning glory and jimsonweed families. All the seeds if ingested are hallucinogenic.

[sweetee2]

              Surprise  Surprise  I live in zone 6. Last year I spread about 8 inches if leaves on my Dahlias and they came up.

[gardenman]

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

Daturas are members of the morning glory and jimsonweed families. All the seeds if ingested are hallucinogenic.

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Dangerously hallucingenic though in the case of daturas. There are multiple fatalities each year from people trying to get high from daturas. Even the crazier web sites advising people on how to get high from anything, warn people away from daturas. They are not a plant you want to play around with in an effort to get high. There is no safe way to use it to get high. It can and does kill multiple people (typically teens) each year. I highly recommend them as a decorative plant, but if you've got a crazy teenager then you're probably better off not growing one. A thrill seeking, high seeking teen may not think of the risks involved, or assume they'll be fine, and find out too late how wrong they are.

They're gorgeous plants, but with great beauty comes a great risk. It's not a big deal for me as I live here alone and there are no kids/teens around, but in other circumstances I would probably not grow one.