Datura

A neighbour has told me that these plants, also known as Angel's Trumpets are easy to grow from seed and has made me think about ordering some for next year. However, I understand that these are highly poisonous and I'm a little worried in case they might prove fatal to any wildlife or the dozens of cats that pass through my garden. I've stopped growing oriental lilies since I read that the pollen from these plants can kill cats who get it on their fur and then lick it in.
Does anyone have any advice to give on this matter concerning Datura please?

 

Brugmansia, Datura or Angels Trumpet, whatever name you give this plant all parts of it are highly toxic ... I have them here together with Morning Glory and Oleanders ..which are also highly toxic .....we have a pet dog and he isn't attracted at all to any parts of these plants ...whether cats would be I'm not sure...any grazing animal that could get to these could be in some danger however. Perhaps transferring the eventual plant to a large pot which could be placed out of harms way might be the answer, be prepared to water quite a lot..... M-L

 

I agree with ML, certain plants have been given a bad name, bet you've got some deadly nightshade somewhere in your garden.
Daturas are toxic, but most animals, apart from young ones, have an instinct for whats good to eat.
I've grown them for years and most of the cats in the area keep coming back, and my dog has never touched them.
Think as ML says, grazing animals are the biggest problem, but not many people keep them in their gardens.

 

LoL has Datura, Oleanders and cats and I don't think she is that worried.

 

Too true, Strongy ... and maybe I'm a bad "mummy" but none of my babes have been ill from my plants (and I had some poisonous ones in England too). Here's bad mummy "allowing" them to play in a Brugie pot ...



Besides the Brugies, Oleander and Solanums there also the Lantanas and Poinsetias and God know what else ... I'd have to make my garden look like this again ...



No ... I don't think so ... ... and I'd give my life for my cats if push came to shove ... !

Look under What's Looking Good in September ... and guess what I've posted ???

 

Thanks for these reassuring answers; I grow Morning Glory and Oleander in the garden (not so sure about Deadly Nightshade though)and haven't yet found any cat cadavers strewn about the place.
I seem to remember that the catalogue which listed the datura seed warned that it was extremely poisonous but I recall that the dog of the neighbour who grew the plants lived to a ripe old age. I think I'll include them in this year's seed order.

 

Jack, Daturas are known in the u.s.a as Jimson Weed and has been used as a medicine and intoxicant for centuries the plants main ingrediants are Belladonna Alkaloids,Atropine and Scopolamine it's often used by young people to get high the trouble is it takes a while to act and some kids take another dose and the toxins kill them,on the good side it is used in medicine to treat asthma, stomach cramps ,diarrhoea and bed wetting

 

Keep meaning to ask you, walnut, are you a chemist, per chance?

 

L of L no I am not a chemist I have been called an alchemist because I can usually make something out of nothing I am actually an engineer

 

Jack, I am not growing deadling nightshade but Solanum rantonnetii, the Blue Potato Bush from Paraquay, which I have trained into a tree, and Solanum crispum, the Chilean Potato Tree, whichis a scrambling shrub! :D

Solanum dulcamara is the poisonous one.

 

On a recent visit to the Lake District my host pointed out a place which he had been warned about as a child; it is called "The Vale of Deadly Nightshade."
I am interested in growing Daturas for their perfume as much as anything else. A look at some on-line seed catalogues seem to suggest that not all varieties are scented. The prettiest seem to be the unperfumed varieties unfortunately.
Any recommendations, please?

 

:eek: The Vale of Deadly Nighshade .... sounds like they should make a horror movie there! :eek:

It is true about the prettier of the Daturas not having the nice perfume. I always thought it was only the white ones that were scented but my pink one has a lovely scent at night.

Think one of the others will have to advise you on the best as I only have the two and mine are Brugmansias, not Daturas ... the only one of those I had died, a lovely frilly purple and white one! :( T'other half called it the frilly knicker plant! :D

 

A little bit of trivia I just picked up from the American Brugmansia & Datura Society ...

"The genus Brugmansia belongs to the nightshade, Solanaceae family which includes tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, many kinds of peppers, eggplant, and also includes Datura, petunia, nicotiana, solanum, physalis (Chinese lantern) and other ornamentals."