In the case of non-native ornamental plants such as angel's trumpets, as a hobby gardener you have to do some relocation to get them through the year in this country. One might ask oneself: aren't there hardy varieties for year-round outdoor cultivation?
Angel's trumpets are only planted in the warm south
The dream of plantable angel trumpets…
… unfortunately has to burst. Because, the sobering news first - there are definitely no hardy varieties. The magnificent nightshade plant is and remains a plant from the South American subtropics and does not tolerate frost at all. This means that you won't be spared moving back and forth between the garden or terrace and winter quarters, no matter which variety you choose.
However, there is a subdivision within the angelic trumpet genus relevant to this topic. Their area of origin extends from the mild regions on the Peruvian coast to 3000 m high areas of the Andes Mountains. The angel's trumpet varieties are therefore generally divided into the warm and the cold group according to their specific areas of origin. Depending on the area of origin, the varieties are used to more or less cold.
Let's first state:
- Angel's trumpets are basically not frost hardy, so they are not suitable for planting
- In the case of outdoor culture in summer, relocation to the winter quarters in autumn is unavoidable
- however: some varieties are less sensitive to cold than others
What that means for the angel's trumpet owner
The specific cold sensitivity of the warm and cold strains will of course affect how they behave and how you can deal with them.
Cooler flowering conditions in cold varieties
The cold varieties, for example the Brugmansia arborea, the Brugmansia candida or the Brugmansia vulcanicola, produce flowers even at lower temperatures because of their higher cold tolerance. On the one hand, they show their floral ornaments earlier in the summer vegetation phase. On the other hand, you can also count on flowering again in the winter quarters, provided it is sufficiently bright and not necessarily colder than 10°C. Well, it's at least something! They are also generally more resistant to inhospitable weather conditions.
More sensitive to warm varieties
The warm varieties, such as Brugmansia insignis, Brugmansia versicolor or Brugmansia suaveolens, generally flower later in summer and usually do not produce any flowers in the winter quarters. So you can safely overwinter them in the dark. In return, they are of course more heat tolerant and tolerate heat phases better. However, you should never expose them to full sun.