Moonflower miseries....

My love affair with moonflowers (Datura metel) continues on , even in its ups and downs. The photo below was taken at the end of last summer. You can see the wonderful spiny seed pods hanging off the plant, indicating hope for its future. I would let them "ripen" and when the seeds were bulging out of the pod, I sprinkled the dried seeds all over the bottom of the little plot of soil I prepared for them surrounding the mother plant. I lightly covered them with nutritious soil and put them to sleep for a long winter's nap.

When Spring came, I kept impatient watch over my Moonflower patch. One warm Spring morning my efforts were rewarded with a few hundred sprouts peeking up through the dirt. I was so excited - I would have Moonflowers all over my yard!

Two days later, I walked into my garden to check on things. I stopped cold in my tracks. EVERY SINGLE SEEDLING HAD DISAPPEARED!

I was heart-broken. I stared at that empty spot for weeks and weeks. How could this have happened? Daturas are poisonous. I loved how they didn't seem to get eaten by too much. I had to have 200 seedlings in my spot. It had to be the rabbits. I hope they thoroughly enjoyed their Spring salad. Hope they didn't get a tummy ache...... 

I sprayed the heck out of my Moonflower spot with two different organic sprays - one for insects and one for fungus - just in case some moonflower was struggling to appear.

As the weeks went by a few seedlings appeared and now I have ONE plant, for which I'm grateful.

I'll definitely have to figure this out and do something different this year. Well duh, right??

Here's this year's Moonflower:

Are you growing Moonflowers yet?

Happy gardening, my friends!

~Ann

Photos: Ann Bailey