- Author: Sharon L. Rico
I purchased a Brunfelsia pauciflora after seeing one on a local garden tour. The color purple pops in any garden and this smallish shrub in the backyard behind a swimming pool was striking. Researching information about it I learned it would grow in zone 9, belongs to the Solanaceae family, requires partial shade and needs regular water. It is an evergreen, perennial shrub, quite lovely by itself when it is not in bloom.
Since all parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested, I planted my shrub behind other plants in a small, shady, side garden. In doing so, it would be “hidden” and away from curious pets. It has been in the ground for about seven years and has just recently begun blooming heavily. The tubular flowers fade from purple to lavender to white, hence the folksy common name. It has beautiful oval leaves, which disappear underneath the beautiful, multiple clusters of blooms.
A tropical American native, it blooms in spring and early summer. It does well in containers. Although most literature mentions pruning this plant to shape it, I have never had to prune ours. It is about 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide. In alkaline soil, iron may need to be added to the soil to prevent chlorosis. So far, using fish emulsion has worked well. Literature says this shrub will grow to 10 feet tall, but pruning can keep it much smaller.
‘Macrantha' has large purple flowers and is less cold hardy while ‘Floribunda Compacta' has smaller blooms but more of them. It also has larger oval leaves, eight inches long and two and a half inches wide.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is an easy shrub to grow requiring little attention in the garden. Besides enjoying the beautiful blooms, I adore the name. It sounds so Victorian.