Brugmansia Surprise (Frosty Pink)

Last month while walking in the garden I noticed something curious. The little Lagerstroemia tree sapling that I had planted in June, adjacent to the low ropes course with the intention of enjoying beautiful flowers as well as shade in a few years had sprouted long green pods. Quite a mystery it seemed to present – what with the pods not sporting any Lagerstroemia type characteristics about them.

Within a few days the pods had opened to reveal delicate long handsome pendant pink flowers – a magnificent way to uncover a mistaken identity. It revealed itself to be the Brugmansia and not the Lagerstroemia sapling I had mistaken it for at the time of planting. Welcome Brugmansia!

I have read that for the night garden, Datura's and Brugmnsia's are a necessity. These beautiful fragrant plants, commonly known as Angel's Trumpet open up after dark and remain open until the sunlight hits them the next morning. The perfume that the flowers release is said to be extremely sweet and intoxicating and they are known to flower all year with proper care.

I have plans to build in a bench right below this shrub – where one can sit in the late evening, watch the buds open after sunset, enjoy their famed fragrance and admire the delicately beautiful flowers long before the sun’s rays cause them to wilt.

An Angle's Trumpet heavy with blossoms is a very impressive sight. I have seen a glorious white flowering specimen in Panchgani and my friend Shirish told me that he had seen loads of them growing in hedges alongside the roads in Mahabaleshwar.

Astrid Rao