The Gardeners Anonymous Blog

How to Not to Kill Your Brugmansia

I took this photo in Lima Peru last October

I love the look of Brugmansia, which is otherwise known as Angel Trumpet because of the dramatic trumpet-shaped blossoms that hang from the plant.

I have tried to grow them for five years now and have been completely unsuccessful. I murdered all of them. I’m beginning to think that maybe there are some plants that just don’t like me, so I did what I do when I think a person doesn’t like me. I make them like me, damn it!
 
Brugmansia is a member of the Solanaceae family along with jimson weed (datura). Tomatoes and potatoes are edible members of the Solanaceae family, although brugmansia and datura (brugmansia’s herbaceous cousin) are very toxic.

Here’s a cute little poem written about the effects of datura:
“Blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, red as a beet, hot as hell, dry as a bone, the bowel and bladder lose their tone, and the heart runs alone.”

There was a time in my life, when my boys were young, that I wouldn’t allow any poisonous plants in my yard. Now that they are older and I know they won’t just stick any random things in their mouths—junk food not included—I feel more comfortable having deadly poisonous plants around my house. What fun.

Brugmansia prefers moist, fertile, well-drained soil. I find this funny to say because it raises the question: How many plants prefer sterile, claylike soil that doesn’t drain well?

Angel Trumpets begin to flower in mid-to-late spring in warm climates and continue blooming into the fall. I have seen them blooming here as late as early winter. In cold winters, they need protection. Supposedly the roots are hardy and will resprout in April or May. I have only had this happen one time but it finally succumbed the next winter.

Brugmansia benefits from regular fertilization. Miracle Grow or something equivalent is a good choice. They should be fertilized every two to three weeks.

I have read that brugmansia is Chiropterophilous—bat pollinated, and durtura is moth pollinated.
I have also read that they are both moth pollinated. I don’t know for sure which is true but it doesn’t really matter here in Northern California because the bats we have around here are insect eaters.

I do know however, that they have a strong sweet odor that gets more intense as the sun goes down. The Angel Trumpets scents strength coincides with the arrival of the animal that pollinates it—whichever that may be.

Green Thumb Sunday

Here is my late GTS photo.
It’s a picture of the entire representation of Garden Bloggers at BlogHer.
It is a photo of Genie, of The Inadvertent Gardener and me.
One of the highlights of BlogHer was meeting Genie. She is a genuine, warm, intelligent and a very talented blogger.

Ants On My Plants: Why Ants on Plants Are Bad And What To Do About It

My neighbor Jodi told me that there were ants all over her artichoke plants and she asked if that was O.K. I said that she didn’t want ants on her plants because usually ants on plants meant aphids on plants too. She said she hadn’t noticed any aphids and I told her I would go over and check out the ants.

Here’s what I found:

Aphids everywhere—and look who’s protecting them. I showed Jody all the aphids along with the ants. Jody is an organic gardener so she asked me if it would be a good idea to get some ladybugs. I said “Nope.” This is the problem with ants. Ants will keep the ladybugs away. They protect the aphids because you see, ants will work for food, a special food that the aphids produce called “honeydew” it is sweet and sticky and ants love it.

Aphids feed by sucking the juices from plants at the same time they inject their saliva into the plant—which is toxic to the plant. The plant will eventually weaken, become stunted and may even die. The aphids also transmit diseases to their host plant. If this isn’t bad enough, the honeydew also encourages a fungus to grow called sooty mold.

Attack of the Mutants

My passion vine has mutated. This passion vine, which I assume is a passiflora cairulea, has been living at my house since before I was. So it is at least six years old. It has spread and become the dominant vine on my back fence. It has done even better than my perennial morning glory vine, my potato vine and my honeysuckle.

We had such a mild winter last year that my passion vine didn’t even die back. As a matter of fact I have found numerous offspring growing in its general vicinity.

A couple of days ago I went out to take a picture of it and I found a different flower on the vine. A little closer inspection revealed that the vine the new flowers are on has three lobes on its leaves, not the usual five like the passiflora cairulea. This is so weird. I can’t think of an explanation for it. Has anyone ever had this happen before?

Here you see the pink mutant passion flowers on both sides of one of my old passion flowers.

Stumble It!

Proof That Snakes Are Good

I happen to be a big fan of snakes. When I find a snake near my property I try cajole it into moving into my garden. I found a sharp-tail snake for the first time a year ago. I thought that this little mauve-colored snake was beautiful.

And I liked it even more when I found out it eats slugs.

Most of my friends don’t like snakes. I was raised with them: my brother collected them, so from the earliest time I can remember there were all sorts of snakes in our house much to my mother’s chagrin.

Green Thumb Sunday

Shasta Daisy

My Orchid Shelves Are In Place.

I felt really good about buying all those plants the other day at the garage sale. Every day I would get up and go onto my porch to visit my orchids in the three cardboard boxes I brought them home in. I’d go out and have coffee and look at them in those boxes.

 Sometimes I would sit next to them and blog on my porch. There I was, nestled up against three cardboard boxes filled with orchids.

Yep, there I was.

After a couple weeks the fact that I really had no place to put them began to sink in.

I was reading Garden Design magazine, occasionally glancing over at my orchids peeking out of their boxes, when my husband, who was lounging in the next chair looked at me and said, “You don’t have any place to put those, do you?”

I really wanted to come up with an answer, but the fact was I had none. I had been thinking about it for a week and nothing. My orchids were now looking like little homeless creatures forced live in cardboard boxes because their parents didn’t have jobs.

My husband suggested that with all the wood windows I had collected over the years (around thirty of them) that we could build a greenhouse. While this was an wonderful idea, I quickly calculated drawing a plan, pouring a slab foundation, building a structure, finishing it, outfitting it with heating and plumbing...hmmm…my husband and I working together…it would take us approximately seven years and cost us our marriage.

So I came up with another plan.

Location, Location, Location.

This is the most important element in real estate.

It is also one of the—if not the—most important element in growing plants.

Last year I bought a shrimp plant. I was very excited to get this plant, because at our old house I had a beautiful shrimp plant hedge and I miss it. No such luck with this new plant. I put it on my porch for several months. The plant died back to about half its original size. I finally moved it down on the patio below my porch. I placed it in a spot with dappled light and it started to

flourish. Now look at it. The shrimp-shaped bracts are just starting to form.

I have a secret orchid window: If I can’t get an orchid to bloom I put it in this orchid window. It’s not really secret. It’s just a window that gets eastern light.

My friend Kim was  very frustrated with her vanda orchid. She had the plant for eight years and it had never spiked since she received as a gift. She gave it to me and asked me if I could get it to bloom. I didn’t want to disappoint her so I agreed.

I took the orchid home and placed in my secret orchid window—and a month and a half later it spiked.

Green Thumb Sunday

My first Coneflower of the season.

Firecracker Pots

I planted these containers for my Fourth-of-July Party. I call them my Firecracker pots. I know it’s a little late to be writing about the Fourth of July but it’s my blog and I’ll write about it late if I want to.

I used Cuphea Ilavera Batface, Calibrachao red, Calibrachao rose and Sedum Dragon’s Blood.

Lots of color, perfect for Fourth of July.