Wordless Wednesday: Pink Brugmansia or Angel's Trumpet

"Wordless Wednesday: Pink Brugmansia or Angel's Trumpet" is a copyrighted post, written by Ami @ http://sefloridagardenevolvement.blogspot.com/ on April 20th, 2011.

"Wordless Wednesday: Pink Brugmansia or Angel's Trumpet" is a copyrighted post, written by Ami @http://sefloridagardenevolvement.blogspot.com/ on April 20th, 2011.

This is my entry to "Wordless Wednesday" this week...

Angel's Temptations

Before I got this Angel's Trumpet's(Brugmansia) cutting, I already read about its narcotic and poisonous facts.  In the meantime, I was also fascinated by the beauty of the flowers this plant produces.  So, when my friend at work asked me if I would like to get a cutting, I said "Yes".  I took it as the Angel's temptations that I just could not resist.

Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia)
Family: Solanaceae

I received several cuttings in February this year.  I simply put them in a vase filled with water, and a week later, they developed the healthy roots.  Then I potted them up in different containers. 

One of the cuttings were put in the ground in the back yard in March.  This is how it looked like back then, about one foot tall.

Since then it just keeps growing like crazy.  It grew even faster after the ground warmed up in April, and then this week it opened the first round of flowers, about 15 of them!  I am training it into a small tree, so it won't take too much ground space, also the flowers will look even more dramatic when dangled from higher branches.

Those large, dramatic pendulous trumpet-shaped flowers are about 12 inches long.  They once again reminded me why I could not say "No" to it from the beginning.

Can you feel the Angel's temptations? 

As matter of fact, I got one more Angel's trumpet today with the pink colored flower, and I also have one devil's trumpet (Datura) growing from the seed at this moment.

**Warning: All parts of the angel trumpet (Brugmansia) are narcotic and poisonous. Deaths have occurred when the plant has been ingested or smoked for its narcotic properties.**

It Is Not Always Pretty

By no mistake, my gardening passion all started with pure admiration for the beauty. The endless beauty of the plant world gives me the great temptation that I can not resist.

With one short year of gardening experience, I also quickly learned that it is not always pretty around the garden, and that perspective is still the hard part for me to deal with. 

Like what I found on my new Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia) leaves...  I caught two of these in the act!  I used two sticks to grab these two big guys off before they could nibble away all the leaves. 

What is this?? Except eating the leaves, do they do any other harms to the plants?

Ugh!  The below one really grossed me off!!!   These are two leaves I took off from my Lantana.  There are more of these ugly leaves on the same plant.  

My fellow gardeners, please help me to identify this pest, and what should I do with it to save my lantana?

I experienced the same thing last year with the lantana planted in the same spot. I sprayed with fungicide, and seems did not do much good. The plant stopped blooming all the sudden. When this plant regrow its leaves after this past winter's freeze, I was glad that new leaves looked healthy, and it even quickly bloomed. I thought the freeze might have killed whatever that has bothered it. I guess I laughed too early, now the same nightmare came back again!

Ok, enough of the ugliness.  I need some beauty to help me calm down...  Here are some of flowers currently blooming in my garden.

Rose corner is still going strong although some leaves have started some black spots.  It seems not impacting  the blooms though...

Peace

Peace (with color variation)

Double Delight

Desert rose (Adenium Obesum) is blooming its heart out!  Some cluster contains more than 20 flowers, which made the branch so heavy that it bended down.

Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum )

These marigolds are the ones I started from seeds this year.

Marigold

These pink vincas are self seeded from last year's plants.  They grow like a weed without much care.

Vinca (Periwinkle)

New addition to the garden... Love the purple leaves and white flower combination.

Charmed Wine Oxalis

Ok, now I need to go back to think about how to get rid of those ugliness shown in the beginning...