Angel's Trumpet: Pruning Nana's "Darwin Plant"

I gave the Brugmansia to Nana about ten years ago. Both Nana and my Mum are dead.

As we're clearing up Mum's place - where Nana lived for a while - I came to remember when I gave it to Nana.

First of all, it's a pig of a plant. It won't die and will just get long and rangy. Its flowers are nice enough, but everything about the plant is poisonous in some way. I offered some cuttings to my father in law and once I knew what I was talking about he promptly and politely declined.

But Nana liked the plants and I did at the time. When I gave it to her I reminded her that the Angel's Trumpet is unpopular because some people might boil up the flowers for their drug effects and some kids have died.

Nana shrugged. If people are stupid enough to do that why is it my fault. I call it the Darwin plant. Just another element in the process of natural selection.