PlantFiles: Desert Thorn Apple
Datura discolor

I am on a southwest facing hillside in the Bay Area which has a harsher climate then the more protected areas in the flatlands and away from the bay. That being said, I got two or three of these plants on a whim as I began to build a dry garden. I put two of them in the dry garden which only gets occasionally watered (depending on my mood) and I put another in a regularly irrigated area. The two in the dry garden flourished, while the one near irrigation began to die. I moved it into the dry garden and it is on the road to recovery. Also, this plant seems to like poor soil so I mixed some sand into the soil. So far, so good. Also, I see that this is listed as an Annual..but I believe that in my zone 9 it is evergreen and perennial

This plant is native to the Sonoran desert areas of California and Northern Mexico. I was advised to plant it as far away as possible from anything that got watered. I did and it thrived. Beautiful flower, but it gets the name thornapple for a really good reason - do be careful with the seed pods, they are lethal.

Discolor datura also known as Raspberry Swirl have reseeded in my garden for the last 3 yrs. not invasively, like some other varieties. In my garden they seem to bloom a bit later than other datura. It is such a joy to see them bloom with the purple stain in the throat. Sometimes the stain is a lighter shade of denim blue.

I have this one growing now and the scent is wonderful. Large at least 4 inch blooms. Bright white with deep purple throat.