Angel trumpet is the Danish name for the opulent plant that has the botanical name Brugmansia. Here is a website dedicated perfectly to the beautiful flowers. Learn how to care for and reproduce the beautiful plants here.
How is the angel trumpet looked after?
Angel trumpets are greedy plants that must be looked after with plenty of water and fertiliser. The plants prefer light, but must not be in direct sun. You must also protect the plant from wind and when the temperature drops towards winter, the plant must be indoors. It cannot withstand temperatures below approx. 8 degrees (depending on variety) and hibernate in winter if it is cool. Read more about caring for the plant on the rest of the website, which is dedicated to this amazing plant.
The characteristics of the angel trumpet
You can recognize the plant by the very large funnel-shaped flowers. The plant itself is a shrub that can reach Tree height depending on the variety.
“Wildform” picture was taken by Colin Hosking
With very few exceptions, the large flower will face downwards and there will be a significant amount of leaves if the plant thrives.
Originates Can become thick like small trees, but this takes many years. In the first year, the trunk is typically 1-2cm thick and will grow from being branch-like to a trunk in a few years. This does not apply to the cold varieties, you can read about this later in the post.
The branches are usually green and have some White dots, from which leaves, flowers, side branches and roots can develop. Over the years, trunks and branches turn gray and develop something reminiscent of a thin bark or slightly wrinkled ‘skin’.
The angel trumpet typically grows around 20 years old in Denmark, but many go to each year in the winter, due to incorrect storage.
It is fun to observe all the differences between the individual hybrids that exist. For example, there is a big difference in the length of the flower, how far a tube the flower grows out of, and stripes etc. on the individual flowers. That’s what makes you so easily want to own many varieties of these fantastic plants.
ordinary angel trumpet
The angel trumpet you see the most is without a name and typically a single flower in yellow or pink. However, the whites are also very common in plant markets and supermarkets in the spring. They are most often simply named Brugmansia or angel trumpet. You should not be fooled by these plants. They are usually very vibrant and easy to grow, and a really good place to start as a beginner.
As a small curiosity, the ordinary angel trumpets that have yellow flowers will most often have jagged leaves.
This plant is cheap! You will be cheated if you give much more than NOK 30 for a cutting. There is no need to order a larger plant home, because it is incredibly easy to grow. If you have tried growing, for example, tomato, you will be well prepared to fit the regular angel trumpet. After a short time – typically already the first year, you will start to be enriched with beautiful flowers.
Varieties and hybrids
The angel trumpet’s hybrids all originate from the indigenous varieties that occur naturally in South America:
- Brugmansia arborea
- Brugmansia aurea
- Brugmansia insignis
- Brugmansia Sanguinea
- Brugmansia Suaveolens
- Brugmansia versicolor
- Brugmansia vulcanicola
Brugmansia is divided into two groups: Section Sphaerocarpium – The cold group and the warm section Brugmansia. From these comes all the hybrids we can buy.
Section Brugmansia includes the varieties B. suaveolens, B. insignis and B. versicolor, as well as their hybrids (e.g. B. × Candida, there is a mixed hybrid between B. aurea and B. versicolor. I review the cold group separately later in the post.
The most comprehensive online archive of angel trumpet hybrids, I have come up with www.brugmansia.us
Otherwise, I can strongly recommend the big book about Brugmansia: Hunanduj, which also has a large dictionary with a detailed description of all approved hybrids. Here, for example, who created it and its special characteristics is reviewed.
OBS Datura is not Brugmansia. They have previously belonged to the same genus, but are only connected by both being Nightshade plants. They are therefore related to each other to the same extent as with, for example, potato and tomato.
Angel trumpet is a summer garden plant
It is quite important not to buy an angel trumpet if you live in an apartment or house without a garden, because the plant must live outdoors in the summer. They are far too big to have indoors, although you can keep them down a bit. There is also the problem of the plant’s toxicity, which is reviewed below.
Many grow the plants in pots, while others put them directly in the garden soil. The largest plants are achieved by putting them in garden soil, but it is also a lot of work to take them up before the frost. In a single summer, the root network can become very extensive.
Angel trumpets must only go out into the garden when it is summer. Most often at the end of May or all the way in June. On the other hand, they can then stand outside until the frost comes, where some believe it is even an advantage if plants manage to be exposed to a single round of cold. This should cause the energy in the plant to retreat, so that it goes into ‘HI’ and more easily survives the winter.
Winter storage
The plants must be stored indoors in the winter. Many use Plant hotel Because it is difficult to find space for the large plants at home. Personally, I have always used an unheated conservatory, but closed some warmth on cold winter days.
However, there are several methods of overwintering angel trumpets.
Angel trumpets, which are very slow to get started in the spring, have most likely been exposed to low temperatures.
Angel trumpet is toxic
All parts of the plant are poisonous. You should handle it with gloves on, otherwise there is an opportunity to develop, for example, allergies that creep in over the years – it did for me. So here’s a big warning!
Read more about the plant’s toxicity in the post Angel trumpets are poisonous
Having said that, I have a cat that has bitten my plants. her pupils were dilated, but no further.
People who have scratched their eyes after handling Brugmansia have also experienced this significant pupil dilation.
I would never grow this plant if I had small children. It can be argued that many of the naturally occurring plants in Danish gardens are poisonous, but this can be fatal in extreme cases, so I personally see no reason to take any chances.
Medical use of angel trumpet
The plant has been used by indigenous tribal people to achieve various medicinal benefits. It is highly hallucinating and has therefore been part of spiritual ceremonies.
Unfortunately, it often happens that people die or become severely ill from abusing the plant’s euphoric effect. For example, some cardiac arrest and psychoses have been seen.
Montagne Brugmansia
Angel trumpets are found in what we normally call a warm and a cold edition. The cold ones look significantly different compared to the heat, which typically look more similar to each other.
The group of montane angel trumpets consists of:
- Brugmansia aurea
- Brugmansia arborea
- Brugmansia Sanguinea
- Brugmansia vulcanicola
as well as their hybrids (B. × Flava, B. Sanguinea × B. Vulcanicola).
Cold and warm angel trumpets cannot cross (but crossed B. aurea with warm varieties) and must be looked after slightly differently.
Cold angel trumpets look different from the hot ones
Cold angel trumpets, for example, have a more tubular flower that makes a small bend on the outside, and the leaves can look very different. Warm angel trumpets almost always have similar leaves and you immediately see that the flowers are related to each other.
Cold angel trumpets typically do not have a distinctive stem, but are more like a small bushy potted plant for the first several years. They can grow large, but grow slowly. It may take several years before the first flower appears and they can be difficult to get to bloom.
The cold plants are generally more difficult to get something nice out of, so my recommendation would not be to start by buying one. However, the Filur flowers from Lidl are an exception. They grow relatively easily, but I have not managed to overwinter for many years
Note that a plant is cold, does not mean that it tolerates cold. It simply originates from colder regions of South America, where frost still does not occur.
Angel trumpets are greedy
To get lots of flowers and great growth, you can use a lot of effort to fertilize and water your plants. 20L of water for a single plant per day is not uncommon in high summer. Fertilizer several times a week is also necessary, but be careful not to give fertilizer small new plants. it kills more people than it helps them get started.
Nitrogen is especially necessary for the plant to develop its large amount of leaves, which are the ones that form the nutrition for the flowers and growth. Salmiak spirit is recommended here.
Soil
Most people find that it makes no difference in which soil angel trumpet is grown. In that way, you can say that the plants are still a bit frugal. As long as copious amounts of fertilizer and especially nitrogen are added.
Growth phase and angel trumpet Y
Many have already heard of a Y, but fewer know that not all angel trumpets get the characteristic branch division.
Y occurs in connection with extreme growth, which is seen when the plant grows insanely fast and gets colossal leaves. In the growth phase, the leaves are around 20-25cm long and there is therefore no doubt at all when it happens. The growth phase typically occurs in the first or second year of life (if it is a late cutting, for example). You can do nothing to stop the growth of the plant. If it cuts down, it will have to start all over again. It’s just big plants, no matter what.
Warm angel trumpets must go through a growth phase before they bloom, but only if it is a seedling, or a cutting that has been taken over the mother plant’s Y.
Cold angel trumpets do not get through the growth phase, and for the most part grow significantly more slowly. Cold angel trumpets can therefore be preserved in a smaller size for many more years than the heat, which typically grow over our heads within 2-4 years.
NOTE If you cut a plant under Y, it must go through a new growth phase. So you can’t cut yourself to a lower trunk, because it will simply shoot with new trunks, which then get tall again!
Plants that do not have to go through a phase of growth
The angel trumpet that does not go through the growth phase can look funny. You can get cuttings of 10cm in height, which have 15cm long flowers. This is not at all as abnormal as one might think.
As I said, the cold angel trumpet does not go through a phase of growth.
Very often you don’t know whether the cutting you have bought or had it taken over or under Y. My experience is that the plants you buy in supermarkets or from other more professional retailers always have to go through the growth phase. The only option you have to avoid the growth phase is to buy your plant from an enthusiast (in, for example, our lovely Angel trumpet-brugmansia Facebook group where more than 1700 people are members at the time of writing) or take cuttings themselves.
Heat angel trumpets live in cycle
You will experience that the plants flower in several rounds, with breaks in between. When you start to become skilled at growing the plants, you will find out when you should give fertilizer, water, and take breaks. A small amount of drying out at the right time can, for example, start the budding. The plant stops growing completely and dies if it does not get enough fertilizer and water during the rest period between flowerings.
So while it is incredibly easy to grow angel trumpet, it is an art form that can be refined. However, don’t take a lot of care of this in the first years, but get to know your plant slowly. You’ll get flowers.
Propagation of angel trumpet
There are two ways to multiply the angel trumpet. Either by Seed propagation or as cutting. There is probably nothing surprising in that, but if you propagate, for example, seeds, it will be impossible to predict what will come out of the plant. Each and every seed in the large fruit is genetically different from each other and from the parents.
Seed propagation requires two plants in varieties that can cross. As I said, hot and cold angel trumpets cannot reproduce with each other. a single variety, Brugmansia arborea (and possibly crosses with this), however, is self-pollinating.
Cuttings are surprisingly easy to make yourself. All clippings from the plant can be used.
Origin of the angel trumpet
It is quite easy to stem a warm angel trumpet if it is a seedling, or a cutting that has been taken under Y. For the first few years, the plant will primarily grow in a trunk and crown. The side branches that come can be easily cut off, or removed with your fingers while they are small. You can make new plants from the side branches if you wish. Use the method for cutting propagation.
When the plant gets older, it starts to become a slightly larger project, as it will naturally shoot from below. Angel trumpets are very willing to set root shoots; this is also why you should not discard a plant that is dead. It is not unusual for it to shoot again. In nature, angel trumpets are huge bushes that can fill many m² and which constantly spread if the conditions are right.
Stuffed and double flowers
There are cultivated varieties that have several sets of petals. You will be able to see double flowers, where it looks like there is a flower on the outside of the flower.
You can also find three triple varieties, and those we call ‘filled’. The fullness has like a crumpled interior of one more flower.
The colors of the angel tom
The most common colors for angel trumpets are white, yellow, and pink. There are also high-pink, salmon colored, and tomato red. There are also different shades of white.
Cold varieties often have several colors in the same flower. Several, for example, look like filuris in the colours.
You very often see color changes depending on where the flower is in its development. It typically grows in a yellow color, can change to white to its black color, which can then develop to fade or darken before it falls off.
Some smart scam makers try to sell, for example, blue Brugmansia every year. They don’t exist! The pictures are photoshopped and the seeds you receive can be, for example, birch.
The wonderful scent of the angel trumpet
If you want scented plants, the angel trumpet is a great choice, but you should know that several (especially the white ones) have no scent at all.
The scent is typically a different mixture of rose, geranium, and vanilla, and it can become so strong that you cannot stay nearby in the evening. The flowers emit large clouds of fragrance when the sun starts to set. This is another one of the special characteristics of this personality-filled plant.
Not all angel trumpets smell the same, so it can be exciting to hunt for scents that appeal to you. However, a warning must be heard. If you are allergic to, for example, perfume, you should not grow angel trumpet. In several sources, the scent itself is also referred to as toxic.
How long will angel trumpet flowers last?
It depends entirely on the weather. If it is cool, the flowers last longer. In heat and direct sun, it is not uncommon for the flowers to last down to a few days. Therefore, place your plant in a slightly cooler place than in the middle of the sun.
Dissatisfaction
Unfortunately, I cannot write about the angel trumpet without also writing about dissatisfaction. In particular, the plant is very exposed to spider mites, which come when the weather changes, the plant is thirsty or gets too much water. Yes, in fact, there is almost no cover or little exposure to stress, which does not invite the little beasts. Fortunately, they are relatively easy to get rid of if you start in time with the insect soap. See more about dissatisfaction and how to easily mix an insect soap in the post about pest and dissatisfaction.
Yellow leaves
It is perfectly common for angel trumpet to lose leaves every day. Before then, they will typically dry out and turn yellow. However, yellow leaves can also be a sign of dissatisfaction, such as too little or a lot of fertiliser, drowning or lack of water. Insect attacks can also lead to yellow leaves.
Why is my angel trumpet not blooming?
The most common reason why angel trumpets do not bloom is that it has come out too early in the spring. This will put the plant back many months. Read more about this in the article The angel trumpets in the spring
You may also have come to misfit the plant with fertilizer and water. If it does not get nutrition and the correct type of fertiliser, you risk it not having the gunpowder to set flowers. Read about fertilizer here: Fertilizer for angel trumpet
