I adore brugmansia, there’s no other way to put it.

Those are Angel’s trumpets to those of you who don’t know what they are. I love, love LOVE Angel’s trumpets. To me, they are an obsession. There are so many lovely cultivars of this plant species, one could spend the rest of their life just growing this one plant variety.  And I’m pretty close to doing that right now.

Iochromas also come to mind.  These are cousins to brugmansia, and unlike brugmansia, iochromas really do come in rich shades of blue and deep purples.  I plan on talking a lot more about iochroma as the months go by. I found very little true information on them via the internet, so it is a subject worth broaching.

The brugmansia pictured up to your right is a cultivar named ‘Santa Rosa.’  Definitely a brugmansia worth having.  It was hybridized by J.T. Sessions, created from the pod of ‘Pink Beauty’ and the pollen of  ’Ecuador Pink.’ This brugmansia blooms for me constantly, takes the heat, and if you want large, in-ground brugs, this one’s a winner.

Brugmansia usually have large flowers, and Santa Rosa is no exception. I measured it at 11 inches.  This first morning bloom starts out pale and creamy snow, and progresses to a deep and rich velvety coral within a few days. Immediate paler colors of peach to orange start within hours of sunrise.

Brugmansia are unusual in that the flowers do change color, and are affected by climate. I don’t know many people who would not want a flower that so readily changes colors. That’s just one more thing to love about angel trumpets. One flower can change color 3 to 4 times, if one’s counting.

Some cultivars slightly close during day hours, creating a puckered, ‘kiss’ of a bloom. Others remain wide open, skirts askew and the pointed teeth curling towards the heavens. Some blooms are fat, some are skinny. Others are as large as your head. I’ve seen photos of some about the size of a small hand.

The blooms are usually thick, waxy and iridescent. This helps the flowers to hold themselves, as most are so well sized. Skirts are held open all the way from the bloom’s calyx by raised linear structures that act like a skeletal framework for and on the petals. Truly a joy to behold one.

Another wonderful thing about brugs, is their perfume. Angel Trumpets are very fragrant, attracting all sorts of jewel colored bees, moths, butterflies and hummers. The smell wafts into the air, delighting all who are within 50 to 100 feet of them.

Brugmansia make wonderful garden plants, and large patio container plants too. Those of you living in zones 9 and up, can overwinter them outside.  In zone 9 the top will die back, but the roots will spring back in the spring, the plant will grow to blooming height in one season. Lower numbered zones bring them indoors and place in large roomy basement until the threat of frost has subsided.

All said, brugmansia are a beautiful understory small tree that is definitely worth adding to your garden. You’ll get plenty of ooohs and aaahs from this unusal plant.

Well, that will do it for my first blog. I will continue to post here as I can, and talk  more about these incredible plants, and some other magnificent bell flowers too.

Note: In the second photo, I edited out my neighbor’s unsightly weeds. Everything else, the rich color of that bloom? It’s for real.