Hi, this is my first time here. I have this BIG plant that emerged from my new raised flower/ veggie bed. At first I thought it was a sunflower, but it isn't. The plant is about 3' tall and growing strong, the stem is at least an inch in diameter. The leaves are huge and look like squash leaves. The flowers are white and shaped like morning glory or petunia trumpets.They point straight up. Looks kind of cool, but it is probably some strange weed. Sound familiar? ?:| I can take a pic and post it if needed.
Muddy knees David! Compost is my friend. Every day I enroll in gardening school. Some days it feels like kindergarten!
Not sure what part of the country you are in, but the plant might be a Datura. The flowers open at night. Just an idea. Hiking out west in Utah, they were growing along the VirginRiver. Invasive plant, I believe.
"Maybe one of the secrets of survival is to learn where to dance." Stanley Kunitz
Posts: 853 | Location: New Hampshire Z4 | Registered: February 11, 2002
I am in Eugene, Oregon. I looked up Datura and although the white flowered one has very similar looking flowers, the leaves are huge on my plant. The leaves are much smaller on the Datura pics, more like ivy. Mine look like Zucchini leaves. Thanks!
Muddy knees David! Compost is my friend. Every day I enroll in gardening school. Some days it feels like kindergarten!
Well, now I believe it. The white flowers do close during the day and open in the evening. I have been killing cucumber beetles with my fingers on the leaves for a couple weeks. Last week I was sick for 2 days and hallucinated one night. That is scary. I must have gotten a small dose.That could have been a lot worse. Another mystery is how did a desert plant get into my soil? The raised box it sprang up from was just built a month ago. I bought chicken compost and organic mix from a local source to fill the box. The seed must have been in one of those 2. Thanks for the help and keeping me from killing myself.I dug it up with rubber gloves and disposed of it. ]
Muddy knees David! Compost is my friend. Every day I enroll in gardening school. Some days it feels like kindergarten!
Ok, so I have something similar with leaves that look like those, but the bloom is purple. It's sooo pretty, but if it's that toxic I'll pull it right away because my co-gardener is 21 mos. old. Think it's the same thing?
Oh, I'm in WA, so again the desert climate is just not here. Hmmm...
Datura, and it's near twin, brugsmansia (one has it's blooms facing to the sky, the other 'Angel's Fishing Rods' has it's flowers facing down), come in many colours. White is most common, but purple and yellow are also popular. Double-flowered cultivars are available as well. They produce a hard, prickly seedball that can lay dormant for years before the growing conditions are ideal for growth. Lone seeds require a chilling period in order to sprout, so I'm guessing that a stray seed got into your dirt up to 6 years prior to it showing up.
Datura was the original heart-slowing folk medicine, while foxglove, digitalis, speeds it up. All parts of datura can produce hallucinations, but it is the roots in which the compound is the strongest. (Morning Glory is also a hallucinogenic plant - seeds. Tomato and pepper leaves are toxic - nightshade family.) By all means, if your child(ren) are prone to playing with your plants, or worse - chewing on them, get rid of the danger. My point is that quite a few of our common, favourite plants can cause problems, and not just herbals. Education is key here. Know as much as you can about a plant before you choose it, and teach your children, by example and with words, never chew or suck on any plant you are not 100% is safe (garden peas excepted!). I guess I was lucky, my three kidlets didn't put anything in their mouth that I didn't tell them to eat. Except the cat.
Turns out I have a very lovely purple mallow that most likely hitched a ride with some starts I got. It's beautiful, definitely a keeper. For the record, I am very aware of potentially poisonous plants in my garden, and while my munchkin is never out of eye shot & not generally a chewer, when I saw this thread I kind of panicked. I've never seen datura in our area, and pull morning glory way before it goes to seed. I am aware that nightshades can be tricky, thanks for the concern. Send my regards to your cat...
I'm glad it's a mallow. So many people stop in and read things here, I hope that the information we provided helps those to shy to post. That particular cat has gone to his reward some five years ago - but not as a result of being chewed on by the kids!
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I hope this thread doesn't scare anyone away from Datura. I grow them as annuals in my garden and think they have one of the most beautiful blooms I have ever seen! :x Since I don't have kids I don't have to worry as much as others, but I encourage anyone to try them and enjoy their elegance. They rival calla lilies in beauty, but are easier to grow!
