Brugmansia Babies

I can’t claim to have any climatic foresight, but last autumn I decided to take cuttings from the brugmansia that I had successfully overwintered outdoors for several years. Good thing too, because despite being well wrapped up it has not survived.

Taking brugmansia cuttings is very simple – I cut segments of woody stem approximately 25cm long, angling the cuts and making sure there were leaf joints near the top of each cutting. I planted the cuttings (the right way up!) in deep pots of gritty compost with half of each cutting below soil level. I stood the pots on a heated tray and left them to get on with it.

Nothing visible happened until the New Year, but since then all the cuttings have sprouted leaves. I left them to grow on until the worst of the cold weather was over and have recently potted them up individually – once all risk of frost is past I will harden them off and one is destined to replace its parent in the Courtyard Garden.

Warning: all parts of a brugmansia are potentially toxic, so they should be handled with care, and if they flower in a confined space they can be hallucinogenic. That said, our mature brugmansia flowered prolifically, releasing a delicious fragrance in the Courtyard without any noticeable effect, but it might be different under glass.