Growing Angels Trumpet Flowers Indoors
Angels Trumpet are also called brugmansia and grow on an evergreen shrub that can be grown indoors or outdoors. As an indoors plant, the bush produces beautiful trumpet shaped flowers in creamy white, pink, or yellow that hang over, as if they are poised to be played. A native of Brazil, Angels Trumpet can be planted from seeds or purchased from a local nursery. The flowers provide a sweet, pleasing fragrance that can be intoxicating if not overpowering at times. Angels Trumpet is a member of the nightshade family, along with tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes, but every part of the plant is poisonous.Thus it is not one of the “edible” nightshade plants.
If you choose to plant the flowers from seeds, sow inside the house in potting soil. It takes a long time for the plant to grow from seed but it can be done if the soil and young plants are kept moist and warm. Use a small plastic seed container or egg carton for planting the seeds in. Water soon after they are planted. While the seeds are germinating, make sure they have full sunlight. Place the planter with the seeds in front of a sunny window and this will help speed up the growing process. The full shrub, once it reaches its adult stage, can be replanted to a floor planter as it can grow to six feet in height and taller. Replant the shrub once a year if necessary as it grows. Mix some fertilizer with the soil to help keep the bush lush and fertile. The flowers bloom during the summer and fall during its adult stage and the size of each trumpet averages from eight to nine inches long. These are big flowers, but quite beautiful as they hang on this evergreen bush. The plant is highly toxic so don’t let your pets eat this plant. Angels Trumpet requires feeding every 3 to 4 weeks.
If the scent of the flowers gets to be too much for the indoors, transfer the pot to the outdoors during the summer months of the year. Trim the plant once the blossoming season is over to prevent it from growing too tall. An insecticide can be used if the spider mites have taken to your plant.
Bring the plant inside during the winter months and keep warm either in the living room or any other room that receives considerable sunlight and heat. The bush will die once exposed to a frost. So long as your Angels Trumpet bush is kept alive and maintained properly, including fertilizing and cutting back the branches, it will last a long time. Enjoy your Angels Trumpet bush!
Image Credit: Drakonfly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
