Sounding the Trumpets for the Angel's Trumpet!

By LMG Calla Victoria

The Angel’s Trumpets is one of my favorite flowing trees, some say it is a flowing shrub that can grow up to 20 feet tall, for me 20 feet is definitely a tree. The botanical name for Angel’s Trumpet plant is Brugmansia x candida. The Angel’s Trumpet is a tender perennial, meaning it will die back in the Winter, and come back in the Spring if planted in the ground. You might consider growing them in a pot and bringing them indoors before the first frost. But amazingly even though it basically dies to the ground in the Winter, when it comes back in the Spring it is twice the size. The flowers are large, and pendulous, with single or double blooms. The blooms are trumpet-shaped hence the name Angel’s Trumpet, and range in colors from pale orange to peach, white, pale violet, and shades of yellow. There is however an Angel’s Trumpet plant called “3-in-1” that has three different colors of blooms on it.

When this tree is in bloom it is such a spectacle. My neighbor said my Angel’s Trumpet had so many blooms he was expecting it to make music. What is interesting about the blooms of the Angel’s Trumpet is they have no fragrance in the morning but are profusely perfumed in the evening. Nature is so awesome, so I don’t know how someone can say there is no God; I mean who tweeted these plants and told them only to have fragrance in the evening? In our climate, Angel’s Trumpets bloom from Spring to Winter providing continuous color and fragrance for your enjoyment.

Just a few of my collection

This fabulous tree is easy to propagate as well. The Angel Trumpet can be propagated by cuttings. It is suggested that you root the cutting in water and then plant it. That method has not worked for me, my neighbor told me to just take a cutting from an existing plant and stick it in the dirt, and that works for me every time. Take your cutting, make sure that a node (where a leaf grows) goes down in the dirt, and water it daily. For a couple of weeks the cutting will look limp and like nothing is happening, and then you will start to see small new leaves growing. I started with one Angel’s Trumpet and from that one plant now I have nine trees. I love the elegant and graceful look of these trees in my garden.

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Remember never get too busy or too important to stop and enjoy the beautiful flowers!