Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Black Currant Swirl Datura




This has been a year of "firsts" for my household
in the my love for flower gardening. Every year I spent
quite a lot on perennials and much more on all of the
annuals that were needed to fill pots and bare areas in
the flower beds to add color. After many attempts and
failures to grow them from seed directly into this heavy
clay soil that surrounds my house, I purchased a mini
greenhouse and thought to start the seeds indoors and
then planting them. I had a few disasters in starting seeds
and some great results in others. It was a learning process
and now know how to correct some of the failures and
have noted them in a plant log for future reference.

One of the seeds that I had the greatest results from
starting indoors was from another "first" or new flower,
the "Black Currant Swirl Datura". I got the seeds from a
purchase on Ebay and they all germinated very well.



I have treated them as an annual because of the cold
winters here in my zone 5 area. I put them in an assortment
of containers in all sizes because I did not know how well they
would do. They adapted to each size container
and grew to the size of the container and all are now blooming.
It does better in larger pots where it grows larger and is able
to branch out. If planted directly into beds it would grow in
leaps and branch out into 5 foot plants.




The Black Currant Swirl Datura has just stunning blooms.
The black stems adds a wonderful contrast to the plant.
The blooms are light lavender with rich purple in the center
and on the edges of petals and has a wonderful fragrance.
The blooms are 5-6 inches long and about 4 inches across.
Now that I have learned more about how it grows and what
it likes it will become addition to my garden in the future.
The seed pods will be harvested and the seeds kept for starting
next April. Next Spring I want to put some in the back of the
flower beds. The blooms do not last long, but it has many on it
so there are always some in bloom.




7 comments:

spookydragonfly said...

They are so pretty!...I have never seen them before..I've tried growing from seeds without much luck...I finally gave up. We have the heavy clay soil here as well, have amended our soil over and over...it's a battle!

nefaeria said...

That is a very pretty version of the 'Devil's Apple'!

Too bad they wouldn't do well in my hardiness zone.

Laurel

Beth said...

I couldn't view your photos on the blog but I Googled the flower - they are very pretty. I'd have to grow it as an annual around here too. Does it need full sun or would partial sun be OK?

Lona said...

Beth, I have some in full sun and some in part sun. The ones in full sun do better but they will grow in partial sun.

Lona said...

nefaeria, so Datura is also called "Devil's Apple". Thanks for the information.

catzgarden said...

Hi! You have some beautiful pictures on your blog - and the birds and water make me feel like I'm in your garden....I haven't ever seen that type of datura - they are fantastic.

Thanks for sharing with us....

c.

tina said...

This is a super looking datura. I love the purple inside. I have some growing in my garden and have found they are so easy to take cuttings from. I will overwinter the cuttings in the garage where it does not freeze. I did not know you could start them from seeds and a friend was just asking me the other day so thanks!