When I was younger my mother had flowers she called moon lily's, I believe these were devils trumpet, they bloomed only once per night and had a great delicate smell, I have some seeds that have been kept in a freezer for a couple of years, will these seeds still be good for producing a plant.
thanx bill
"Bill" wrote in news:HkgHh.9871$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
Take a few and put them in a damp -- damp, not wet -- paper towel, put them in a zip lock bag and see what sprouts. (You might want to open the bag occasionally to make sure nothing goes moldy.) The usual number for doing this is ten if you have that many to spare. Count the sprouted ones (say, six out of ten) and you will know you have a 60% viability on the seeds.
"Bill" wrote in news:HkgHh.9871$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
Oh, a P.S.: I just saw packets of these seeds in the seed rack at Walmart Saturday.
If they are Daturas,
Carl
You are talking about Brugmansia. I have many varieties and I collect them. I also have tons of seeds, but they require a very special environment to germinate. The wet paper towel test doesn't work with these large seeds. Tell me, how large are your seeds and I will tell what you have. Brug seeds are large and have no uniform shape. They, need light to germinate.
I am trying to root cuttings now. I just put my Brugs out last week and pruned them hard. I won't know the color of the plants till they bloom, but I would be willing to send you a plant once they get some roots on them.
Moonflower is a vining plant like morning glory, but white and much larger. They have a scent.
Datura has small to large flowers and they face upward, thus they are called angel trumpets. I have many seeds of Datura wrightii.
************* ooops , The Datura are Devils Trumpets because they face upward from he**. Brugmansia are Angels Trumpets as most of them face downwardly as if from Angels above.
Brug seeds will germinate with proper temps, moisture, air and light. Paper toweling(damp) in a baggy placed in a bright, warm spot but not in direct sun should do the trick unless you have empty seeds. Or plant in sterile damp potting mix, just press slightly into the soil , cover container tightly with clear plastic , this is the way I grow mine . Method was taught to me by Monika in Germany. You could soak the seeds overnight in very warm water and peel the corky covering off of the beanlike seed before you try to germinate them. If they are viable seeds they sprout much faster when peeled. Keep everything clean so bacteria or mold spores do not take hold. When they first germinate you will see a fuzz but do not mistake for mold , it is the seeds characteristic.
Good luck, Get some good named cross seeds because growing a unknown seedling for up to 2 years just to see what you have can be very disappointing :-((
Sienna
If you are talking about the all white desert planet that grows out here in the mojave desert and I have ones just coming up, every year they regrow from not only the old root but from seeds too and let you know, they are deadly poison too. Do NOT let anyone eat them or lick their hands after touching them, the only thing I've had eat them is the tiny desert snail I get around here, otherwise nothing will touch them and at night I get a full blooming of them in the summer heat.
It makes so much sense to use botanical names. Datura comes from seed and if climate is not too wet or cold in winter will also come back from the root. Mine are hardy here in zone 8b. They are called Angels Trumpets and come in many forms. I mostly collect D. wrightii, D. metel, D. inoxia, D. stramonium (thought his flower is not as showy).
Brugmansia, aka Devils Trumpet is native of the high mountains in Peru and like any other member of the solanacea family have poisonous properties.
The most common insect I see are the giant larvae of Hawk moths. I have many plants so welcome the hornworms because when the moths come at night it's like having nocturnal hummingbirds. They actually look a lot like hummingbirds are are as large, sometimes larger.
Tomatoes have deadly poisonous foliage too, as do eggplant, peppers and any plant in the solanacea.
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