overwintering daturas in zone 7

A friend who is in zone 6 tells me that her daturas return in the spring. I am in zone7; so what is anyone's experience with the original plant - not seed - returning. This year, I had only one, double purple, and it was in a pot. Would the pot be ok outside, happier in the garage, the greenhouse, none of the above? Thanks to any who know, for your advice!

Peter Krones

i have one white that comes back but all the rest do not come back. the only other i had come back was one in a heated greenhouse. seeds are easier each year then trying to rely on plants coming back from the roots.

That fits my prior impressin that they were much too tender for here. I am 7b, and you may be in 8a. My friend must be in a warm pocket. Fortunatley, I have lots of great seed for next year.

Thanks for your input!

Peter

Peter I have had advice to cut them back , mulch and leave them in place.......but I have a DG friend in Houston who digs his and keeps them in a GH over winter.....he sent me pictures of his 3 year old Purple swirl that was 10 feet tall.

jackieshr -

Did you follow that advice? We have the same winter temps that you do.

The 10' purple swirl sounds awesome, however; I could put the pot in the greenhouse -- I think I have room . . . What did the 10 footer look like? I am wondering if it drops lower leaves when it gets that large, and blooms only at the top . . .

houston is more tropical than us........his back yard, I have only seen photos, looks like a tropical jungle......he says that lots of his plants are in large pots and he takes them in in the winter......the picture of the ten footer looked fully leafed out to me...........


I think for safety sake I am going to cut mine back and dig and bring them in this winter..I have saved seed for new plants if that doesnt work.....the ones I have are nice sized but they are just first year plants grown from seed..........I Might try leaving them out after I have more plants that I could afford the loss

We'll see. I'll be doing the same with my one purple swirl. A fully leafed out plant larger than the usual one-year plant would bear many more flowers, wouldn't it! The only problem I have with daturas is that they may not bloom until late in the year. The foliage is nice, but we keep looking for flowers, which show up as harbingers of frost! (well, not quite, but aside from scattered flowers, I didn't see much uintil September this year.)

P.

This message was edited Nov 7, 2005 2:34 AM

Zone 8b, Lake Sam Rayburn near Lufkin, TX
pdkrones in 7b Monroe, NC
I was wife to an Airborne 86 Div. paratroper stationed at Fayetteville, NC in 1957.
Retired to southeast Texas.
We have humid, hot summers. Our winters are short but drop to twenties in Jan-Feb.
I have wonderful sandy loam soil here. However, I plant in pots to prevent armydillos from digging up my prized plants, including my Black Currant Swirl Datura. They are moved to greenhouse around November 10 before our first average frost date of November 15.
Plants in pots are so convenient when rearranging ones landscape design. There are many good light- weight planters which are easy to move.
You could cut your Datura back close to ground and then place 6-8" of mulch over the top of plant and it should make it through your winter season just fine. Consider what your lowest winter temperature is.
Hardiness Zone for Datura , Zone 8a: is -12.2 degs. BOTTOM LINE; I pot up my Datura & overwinter in greenshouse.

Sudie - Do yours tolerate being cut back some, to make space in the greenhouse? Not to soil level but maybe 1' - 2'?

Peter