Datura is not one of my favorite natives. Definitely an extremely toxic plant, to both humans and animals. Can be lethal. They also self-sow all over the place.

Is there a specific reason you want to plant it, such as fragrance, size, fast-growing, dry soil, etc?

I thought they looked pretty. Thanks for the information, will not plant them.

You're welcome hybiscusfan. I can understand wanting to plant it, because the blooms look nice, and are kind of hibiscus-like.

Datura does benefit native pollinators -- I believe certain species of moths -- since Datura blooms at night. So in that aspect, they're undoubtedly good for the ecosystem / environment. I don't usually recommend NOT planting a native to anyone, but in this case, I'm making the exception and saying, yeah, maybe not such a good idea, since your dog is still in the "chewing everything" stage.

If it's any consolation, from what I've seen, Datura has huge leaves, and the leaves are not necessarily so attractive looking in real life, at least the ones I've seen. The whole plant gets really "weedy" looking in my opinion, and this is coming from someone who plants a lot of things that some other gardeners refer to as "weeds" i.e. native plants.

Also, for some reason the leaves on the Datura I've seen are always chewed up looking, or spotted with some kind of rust or fungus of some sort. So I think you are not missing out on much...

Hopefully there are still wild areas in the USA where Datura can thrive happily, feeding the moths, but away from curious puppies... and hope you find a great dog-safe alternative!

I wouldn't grow anything toxic if there are puppies around. Puppies like to chew! I've grown them from seed (no puppies in my neighborhood) but even so, I wintersow them, so they germinate outside due to the curious indoor cats I have. It's just not worth the chance that your pet might nibble and get very, very sick.