Yesterday-Today-and-Tomorrow
It may have a long name, but don’t let that deter you from planting yesterday-today-and-tomorrow, an attractive flowering shrub for Florida landscapes.
Brunfelsia is a genus of tropical flowering shrubs and small trees. There are more than 100 species in the genus; the most common of these are B. australis and B. grandiflora. Both of these plants go by the name yesterday-today-and-tomorrow, for their color-changing flowers that start out lavender or purple and fade to white over the next day or two.
Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow blooms in the warm months of the year. It does best if it’s planted where it will get morning sun but afternoon shade. Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow will reach eight to ten feet tall, though it can be kept shorter with a little pruning. Dwarf forms are also available.
North Florida gardeners will need to protect this tender plant from the cold. It isn’t widely available in nurseries, so you may want to ask a friend who’s already growing it to start a cutting for you.
A word of caution: all parts of yesterday-today-and-tomorrow contain poisonous alkaloids. The berries are especially toxic.
