Datura is a short lived perennial down here, and lives three to four years, and does produce some brown woody trunks and stems. However, they will never get more than about 4 feet tall, no matter how much you feed them. There are some varieties of dats that actually sprawl. Some brugs tend to grow into shrublike shapes, and others more treelike. Datura like sun, most brugs prefer semi-shade. Datura don't like a lot of water, prefer to be rather dry, whereas Brugmansia love lots and lots of water. Datura don't actually need a lot of fertilizer, will do fine without it, and Brugs need a lot of fertilizer. Some datura do have a scent. Datura wrightii and Datura inoxia, night bloomers both, have a scent, though not as strong as the brugs. Datura are very hard to propagate from cuttings, brugs are not.

It seems to me that the vast majority of plants discussed in the Tropicalesque forum are plants native to tropical or sub-tropical areas that, due to their growth habit, can be treated as returning perennials in non-tropical areas. For instance, cannas, bananas and elephant ears grow from bulb-type structures. As long as the ground itself doesn't freeze, the underground portion of the plant is safe and regenerates quick enough the next year to be a reasonable part of a landscape design. Also, people having been growing tropical plants for centuries without even really thinking about it. A large percentage of the annuals grown throughout the US are really tropical plants. It seems like tropical is really "in" right now. You see it all over the place in interior decorating and even clothing (hawaiian shirts, sundresses with botanical prints). This style is popular in the garden as well. In the Tropical forum, plants such as flowering trees and large shrubs that cannot be feasibly grown in the ground in cold climates are discussed. Tropicalesque is for those using tricks to grow zone 9 and 10 plants in zones 4-7. Living in South Louisiana, the Tropical/Tropicalesque definitions are further blurred. We can grow so many things in the ground that will live through our rare freezes without damage or will reliably return year after year. Still, there are many plants that aren't truly reliable here that people put in protected places and may fool Mother Nature and beat the freezes.

Another point is that the eyeball may produce a more dramatic effect on the wall. Think of it as an upside-down Y. The wallwasher is for generally washing the wall. The dramatic effect you normally see is from eyeballs because of the Y effect on the wall. It is just a matter of choice and what you are trying to light. If it is art work, you need to be sure that the light is getting to the area. A good way to check what you want is to take the light bulb you intend to use and put it in a lampholder. Get on a ladder and hold it up to where the recessed light would be. You can then see what the effect will be on the wall. Everyone can tell you what they know, but I think everyone needs to see it if possible. jon1270 is right about the bulbs. I would only add to make sure that the recessed lights you select can take either of them. There are fixtures that will take both. Also, you can elect to use the Neodymium (true daylight) bulbs in place of the BR30. They are, however, more expensive and don't last much longer. But they do give you a wonderful rendering on colors, if that is your main concern.

The plants are very similar, but their history is very different. Kurume azaleas are the result of many generations of breeding for use in a climate with lows of about +5° F. They are typically dense low growing bushes. On the other hand, Belgian Indicas were propagated to be grown in greenhouses and sold as house plants. Some of these were hybridized with hardier plants to be grown in the Southern US, becoming the Southern Indicas. When grown as garden plants, they tend to be taller and larger plants. Kurume azaleas were bred at Kurume, an inland town in Kyushu, which is the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. The ancestral forms, were brought early in the 19th century from sacred Mt Kirishima, and from them seedlings were raised and propagated by Motozo Sakamoto. On his death the collection passed to Kijiro Akashi, who developed the race and is said to have raised most of those in cultivation. The azaleas of Mt Kirishima, are very variable in the size and persistence of their leaves, and also in their flowers, which 'vary a little in size, in degree of fragrance and greatly in color; the most common shades are rosy mauve to magenta, but salmon and salmon-red are plentiful; pink, scarlet and crimson are rather rare. Plants bearing white flowers are occasionally found'. The two species that grow on the mountain are R. kiusianum and R. kaempferi, and it is now thought that the polymorphism of the Kirishima azaleas is due to hybridization between them. Some of the Kurume azaleas show the influence of R. kaempferi quite strongly, but others, especially those with white or pale pink flowers, are very different from authentic R. kiusianum as grown in this country, yet show no influence of R. kaempferi. There appears to be some other element in the race, and it is suggested that this may be R. sataense. In the 19th century Kurume was remote from the main horticultural centers, and its azaleas were scarcely known, even in Japan itself, but early in this century a few reached Europe through the Yokohama Nursery Company, and others were imported by Dutch nurserymen. Among these were two of the most famous: 'Hinomayo' and 'Hinodegiri'. Apart from these, the Kurumes grown in Britain belong to the 'Wilson Fifty', so called because they were selected from Asahi's collection by the great plant-collector E. H. Wilson when he visited Kurume in 1918. Two sets of these fifty varieties (out of the 250 then grown) were bought by him for the Arnold Arboretum, where they were propagated and further distributed. Wilson gave English names to his Fifty, which are not translations from the Japanese but invented by him. They are rarely used, the Japanese names being more memorable, even if difficult to pronounce correctly. Kurume azaleas are not widely grown, partly because they are thought to be tender. A few are definitely tender, but these have mostly dropped out of commerce; the rest are hardier than generally supposed, though like many other evergreen azaleas they may suffer damage from frost when young. The flowers are small, but borne in wonderful profusion in late April or May. In several varieties the calyx is petaloid, i.e., converted into a sort of outer corolla, colored and marked like the true corolla. Although the result of several generations of breeding, they have retained the dense and comparatively dwarf habit of their wild ancestors. They tolerate full sun, and woodland conditions are quite alien to their nature. Kurume azaleas are hardy to Zone 7, +5° F. After five to eight years in the garden, most Kurume azaleas become dense 18- to 30-inch bushes with small glossy leaves. In spring the foliage is hidden by 1-inch flowers. Typical varieties are 'Coral Bells', medium pink; 'Eureka', similar to 'Coral Bells' but hardier; 'Glory', salmon pink; 'Hershey's Red', rose red; 'Hino Crimson', crimson; 'Hinode Giri', bright red; 'Lorna', bright pink; 'Polar Bear', white and 'Snow', white. For hardiness: 'Blaauw's Pink' salmon pink; and Karen', dark lavender, are hardy to Zone 6, -5° F. The Indica or Belgian Indian azaleas are divided into two groups according to their hardiness. The Belgian Indicas were developed as house plants in the 1800s and are generally hardy to Zone 10, +35° F; Southern Indicas were developed from plants at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, S.C. and are generally hardy to Zone 8, +15° F. Both types may become 6 feet tall and 10 feet or more across after 5 to 10 years in the garden. The flowers, especially of the Belgian Indica type, are apt to be frilled at the edge or many-petaled double blossoms and often are 2 to 3 inches across. Typical Belgian Indica varieties are: 'Alaska', snow white, two layers of petals; 'Albert and Elizabeth', white, edged pink, double; 'Avenir', salmon pink, double; 'California Sunset', variegated white and pink, double; and 'Fire Dance', fiery red, double. Typical Southern Indicas, all with single blossoms having one layer of petals, are 'Brilliant', red; 'Duc de Rohan', salmon pink; 'Fielder's White', snow white; 'Prince of Wales', cherry red; ´Formosa´, (deep magenta-purple flowers); ´George Lindley Tabor´, (white flowers with purplish-pink blotch and purple throat); ´Delaware Valley White´, (pure white flowers with ruffled petals); and 'Southern Charm', deep rose pink. For hardiness: 'Formosa', also called 'Phoenicia', lavender, is hardy to Zone 6, -5° F.