Brugmansia suaveolens is a semi-woody shrub or small tree that gets 6-15 ft tall, usually with a many-branched single trunk. The leaves are generally oval in shape, up to 10 in long and 6 in wide, and even larger when grown in the shade. The overall plant has a coarse texture but the flowers are remarkably beautiful. They are sweetly fragrant, about 12 in long and shaped like trumpets. The corolla has five points that are slightly recurved. The flowers are pendulous, hanging almost straight down.
It has huge, sometimes six-pointed, bell-shaped flowers to 15 in (38.1 cm) long. These may be yellow, orange, white, pink or multi-colored and are more prone to hang straight down. This popular hybrid blooms year-round and often is offered incorrectly as B. suaveolens. There are several other presumed hybrids, including 'Dr. Seuss', 'Frosty Pink' and 'Charles Grimaldi' whose parentages may include B. suaveolens, but this is not certain.
This angel trumpet occurs naturally in SE Brazil. It is widely grown as an ornamental everywhere it is hardy and has escaped cultivation and established in residential areas throughout much of South and Central America, Mexico, and even in parts of south-central Florida.
Brugmansia suaveolens does best in full sun. In partially shaded situations it may grow vigorously but flower sparingly or not at all.
Angel trumpet requires regular watering for best growth and flowering. It wilts terribly, but usually survives through droughts.
Brugmansia suaveolens is a small evergreen (although soft-wooded) tree. In zones 8B-9B, it dies to the ground in winter and resprouts in spring under these conditions it rarely exceeds 8 ft in height. Plants that are repeatedly killed to the ground winter after winter often weaken and die in a few years.
Brugmansias usually are propagated from seed. They also may be started from semi-ripe heeled cuttings taken in summer and rooted with bottom heat. A heeled cutting is one that includes a small piece of the older stem still attached to the tip cutting.
Hardy zone 9-11, zone 7-8 they will die in the winter, but if if the roots get covered heavily with mulch, they will come back in spring.
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