Georgia O’Keeffe made jimson weed flowers famous. Within the context of her paintings, they seem to be angel’s trumpet flowers. Californians know its species as sacred datura, Datura wrightii. It is as native here as where Georgia O’Keeffe observed and painted it in New Mexico. For refined gardens, though, it is rare. It lives almost exclusively in the wild.

There are a few reasons for this. Sacred datura is a sloppily sprawling perennial that can quickly grow eight feet wide. It is not reliably perennial though. It might perform for only a single season, and then suddenly die. The spectacular flowers close through the middle of the day. Seed capsules are annoyingly bristly. Worst of all, sacred datura is very toxic.

Otherwise, sacred datura is as appealing as Georgia O’Keeffe depicted it to be. Its grand flowers resemble those of angel’s trumpet. They stay open longer during cool and damp weather. Foliar color is creamy white, perhaps with a slight lavender blush. Fragrance is mild only because bloom is so close to the ground. Big specimens can get three feet tall. The foliage has a velvety texture.