Like the great travellers who introduced exotic plants such as the Fuchsia to these shores, I love the idea of seeing them flourish here, even if my easyJet flights hardly  qualify as great. My latest imports are now to be seen flowering prolifically as far afield as Cornwall, France and Dorset, as well as here in Piccotts End!

It’s the beautifully scented yellow Brugmansia, also known as Datura. The one pictured here in our conservatory originated in the gardens of the Grand Timeo Hotel in Taormina in Sicily. Last year I brought back few tiny cuttings and put them in a propagator. A year on they are producing an abundance of flowers which fill the house with perfume in the evenings.

There are two here in Piccotts End both doing well but I am most envious of the one I gave to some friends in Cornwall. Theirs produced no less than 27 flowers this year! Apart from getting more sunlight down in the West I think it did much better by being in a small pot. I mistakenly put mine in a big pot and it expended most of its energy on producing leaves. Apparently the trick is to neglect the plant to the point where it thinks it’s dying. In its efforts to stay alive and spawn offspring it produces a multiplicity of flowers!