Hi - I bought some stuff through a mail-order company again this year. The things I received seem to be in pretty good shape, but the planting guide was just that - a planting guide. It did not have any info on caring for the plants. I bought 10 rose of sharon hedges that I planted where I cut down the dreaded knotweek and I bought 4 angel trumpet bushes. The angel trumpet bushes are not hardy in my zone, but the catalouge said that they can be planted in containers and brought in for the winter. I planted those in big pots last night. I am not sure what I do from here. None of the books I have have any information on these plants. I don't know if I should do anything else to the hedges (right now they look like 2-3' tall sticks) - or if I just let them be. I don't know if I cut them down in the fall, or if I leave them alone - how and when to fertilize, etc. I'm just as confused about the container plants. I have never grown plants in a container. I plan to put them on my deck once the frost risk is over and bring them in after, but I don't know how container plants behave. Up here, there is automatically a dormancy period for plants because of the weather. I am not sure how a tropical plant behaves. Does it still flower in winter, does it lose it's leaves? Does it get cut back like my hardy perennials. I thought the weather gave plants a big clue about how to act at certain times - so how do they get the message if they are brought inside when it is cold out? If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it. Or any certain facts about caring for either plant. Thanks!!

mamato2, I looked up the Angel's Trumpet and what it says is that they can be wintered in tubs indoors with a little light and very little water. It also says to to prune in early spring and cut back branchlets to 1 or 2 buds. As far as Rose of Sharon, boy do we have them, they just keep a multiplying. We have them in our hedge row and they just keep on a going. Can't tell ya how many i have to pull out a year, but its alot I can tell ya that. Everywhere ya look there they are a sprouting up everywhere. They were here when I moved here. Hubby let them go so I cut them back last year as far as I could reach. I took about 4 ft off them but I'm sure won't take long for them to grow back to where they were.

I have both of these plants. Don't worry about the Rose of Sharon it is very hardy. You can cut it back if you want when it gets too tall or to help it bush out some. Do you know what variety they are? It's best to get the bushes that can not go to seed. That way they won't be a weed problem. I don't have time to look up the varieties right now but maybe someone will.

The angel trumpet is a beautiful plant when it is in full bloom. It is tropical and I find it needs a lot of water here. My summers will be hotter though. Whenever it is not happy it drops leaves. Also it drops leaves all winter until it is a tall stick tree as it is now here next to me. It doesn't drop them all at once, but over about 3 or 4 months at my house. Put it out when night temperatures are above 50 degrees, or bring it in and out if the day is warm but the night will be cool. This is easier said than done though when you have a six foot tall tree! The angel trumpet plant can also be easily rooted from new growth so if you decide to cut it back re root the cutting too for your friends. Top it off when you want it to bush out a bit.

Ellen

Is your angel's trumpet a datura or a brugmansia?

It sounds like Ellen has a brugmansia, but there are also plants called "angel's trumpets" that are datura, also known as jimsonweed (Georgia O'Keefe did some famous paintings of them)or thornapple.

I have been growing datura from seed, and last year, I had several in containers and several in the garden...I chose to allow them to die, and have planted new seeds this spring.

By next winter, I hope we will have finished the solarium that is now being used as a workshop/storage area...it has huge windows and a southern exposure...hoping to winter plants there. But even so, there are only so many that can be brought in, I don't know if angel's trumpets will make the cut. The citrus trees are on the large side, and I do want some room for us people to use, too!

Rose of Sharon is a great plant...never heard about the type that don't seed themselves...I may have to look that up.

Have a peaceful day in your garden

Gail

If you got rid of the knotweed, please let me know how you did it.

Yes I have a brugmansia. I didn't know that jimsonweed is also called angels trumpet. I have grown it from seed outside but that is it. Live and learn.

The non seeding ROS are triploid plants so they are sterile. They are called things like "Diana" and "Aphordite" after Greek gods.

Ellen

I believe I have a brugmansia. So they will stay dormant through the winter, even though the temperatures will be warm inside my house? I have never had a container plant before, so I am just wondering how they know when to bloom again.
I didn't know the rose of sharon hedges spread so prolificly. I put them there for privacy and to help crowd out the knotweed - hope I'm not replacing one nuisance with another. So do the rose of sharon hedges get cut right back to the ground every fall? I'm going to have to do some more reading I think.
Lindagee - I finally got all the knotweed cut down and I burned it all!! I cut it down to the first node on the stem and filled it with round-up. I can already see the new buds coming up, so I am just going to cream them with round-up every few days - even if it takes all summer. I am hoping if I stay on top of it, they will eventually die off - maybe if they don't get a chance to grow and create leaves for photosynthesis? I still have small patches down the yard, but if it seems to work with the huge amount I had lining the front of my yard, I will attack these ones too. I will let you know how it goes - wish me luck!!