Aquamarine Datura Metel

The Datura and Brugmansia Crazies

During the winter of 2011 and 2012, I became a fanatic of the Datura and Brugmansia flowers.  I started several of them from seed, and waited impatiently for them to come up in the greenhouse.  The first plant was a Datura, called a Black Currant Swirl.  Although extremely beautiful, the bloom was a single layer lavender color.  I was expecting a triple layer bloom and had waited several months. So, I ordered the Versicolor Peach and Equador Pink Brugs, and Purple Petticoats triple layer as cuttings.  Once I got these plants, I was on my way to a beautiful experience.  Once I learned enough about the plants, I then grew from seed. I have also figured out the hard way that they are heat intolerant, which makes blooming difficult in the heat of the summer.  They are primarily a spring and fall plant and love night temps in the 50's.  Many people know these plants as Devil's (flowers point up) and Angels Trumpets (flower bells hang down), repectively.

Ecuador Pink Brugmansia

Ecuador Pink Brugmansia growing in the raised bed next to the greenhouse.

 

 

Versicolor Peach Brugmansia


The following pictures are the varieties of Datura species I grew this past summer.

Aquamarine Datura Metel (Angel's Trumpet)

 

 
Black Currant Swirl Datura Metel

 

 

Purple Petticoats triple layer Datura Metel

 

 

 

Triple Layer Yellow Datura Metel

Summer 2012:  Garden and greenhouse

I grew a summer garden with several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and okra.  Most of the tomatoes were grown in the raised bed due to nematodes in the ground area.  I planted African Marigolds as companion plants to the tomatoes to protect against insects.  Although the Marigolds grew way too big and caused some crowding of the tomatoes, the concept worked.  We got the best crop of tomatoes to date.

 

Straight Neck Squash

 

 

 

 

 

Fall 2012

After a long season of average vegetable gardening, I have decided to establish a butterfly garden. This past summer, my vegetable garden yielded tomatoes, peppers and okra, but the nematodes eventually got the best of the okra during the height of the season. After some research, I learned that mariogolds deter nematodes, so I planted a cover crop of mariolds surrounding the okra stalks. The butterflies love the marigolds, so what started as a nematode battleground has turned into a beautiful marigold and butterfly garden. I have at least ten different species visiting every day (most of which I can not get pictures of due to their shyness).

African Marigolds growing to combat nematodes in the ground next to the raised bed. (sticks are where okra used to grow but died due to nematodes)

 

 

 

It is November and I am pulling out weeds and old Marigolds and Zinnias from my raised bed (3 feet by 15 feet).  Many of the Zinnias had a fungus and it was necessary to clean out most of the plants.  The next picture is what it looked like prior to cleaning out the old plants, filling in with new Black Kow and dolomite.

 

Raised bed
 

 

The most two common butterflies that appear every day are the Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwing, although I have also seen several types of Skippers, Dorantes, Ocola and Long Tailed, as well as several Sulfurs, Eastern, Palamedes, and Zebra Swallotails.

Zebra Longwing on Allamanda
 

American Painted Lady

Gulf Fritillary on Zinnia