Some folks call these “Moon Flowers” as they open up at twilight, last for only one night and then die with the first touch of the golden rays from the morning sun. These trumpets are 6″ across and if you venture forth after dark you can often find these large Hummingbird Moths feasting on the nectar that these flowers provide as they first open.
These “hummers” have tongues that stretch out to the full depth of these blooms! Their tongues are more than twice the length of their bodies! When you have a dozen or more of these moths fighting over the flowers you can hear them easily but they blend into the darkness and you have to watch the white blooms dancing and swaying to the “music” of the beating wings of these moths. These moths actually weigh far more than a real Ruby Throated Hummingbird and they are pushing a LOT of air with each wing beat!
You point and shoot blindly with the camera as they zip from one flower to the next. The pollen and pistil on these flowers are perfectly sized and located to use these moths heads and necks as pollinators. Did I mention that those “horrible green” Tomato Hornworms will grow up and transform into one of the species of these large Hummingbird moths?
The scent from a single bloom is intoxicating! Cut just one bloom from a stem and bring it into the house and it will fill up an entire room with Gardenia or Jasmine like scent. Remnants of the last hurricane yesterday gave us a gentle, warm rain that just wet the ground here at our house.
I came in late last night from a Native Plant Society meeting and drove past my greenhouse and was nearly knocked over from the intense scent from these plants. There was still a light drizzle falling and the air was heavy with moisture that held the scent near the ground. The short walls on the greenhouse are just over 4 feet high and the last photo shows that there are blooms on all sides of these plants where ever sunshine strikes the leaves.
The raised flower bed is 8 feet wide and well drained sandy soil with about half of it actually composted wood chips from tree trimmers. They always tell you that to get good blooms on plants that you need to use a lot of phosphorus and potassium BUT these Datura blooms form only on the tips of new limbs. In order to get a LOT of blooms I liquid feed these ONLY with dissolved Urea Nitrogen and Ammonium Sulfate. Without the new limbs and lots of green leaves from this force feeding of nitrogen you won’t have as many blooms. It takes sunshine on leaf surfaces in order to make a LOT of food from the sunshine so that these plants can form these blooms.
They call these Devils’ Trumpets as the seeds contain hallucinogenic compounds. IF the “trumpets” face up to the heavens then they are Devil’s Trumpets. (Lots of these filled up with water and have tipped over to face the ground.) The “Angel Trumpets” or Brugmansia blooms always hang down on their stems facing the earth and they are NOT poisonous to humans.
If you look at the close up photo, every bud that is pointing up that appears to be a light green colored candle with a white tip will be a full sized bloom tonight. The solid green “candles” without the white tip will bloom tomorrow night. Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Enchanting! I’m just going to chime in to say that what people most often call “moon flowers” come from the annual vine Ipomoea alba, which is in the morning glory family and doesn’t have quite the toxicity of the Daturas. Just clarifying so those who might be worried about the poisonous aspects aren’t deterred from growing the vines. Keith, I am so jealous of all those blooms!
Debbie in Western NC