Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, or Morning, Noon and Night – two common names for one of my favourite garden plants.
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The botanical name for this plant is just as mixed up – Brunfelsia bonodora, or is it Brunfelsia latifolia or even Brunelsia australis – three names for exactly the same plant.
This is an evergreen shrub, which will get to about two metres tall when fully grown.
A native of tropical America, this plant was named for a sixteenth century German monk, Otto Brunfels.
Bonodora means ‘sweet smelling’ which this plant certainly is.
The common names refer to the flowers, which start mauve/blue and will fade over a few days to white – so often you will find there are three different colours of flowers on the one plant. Flowering now, our sample at Wodonga TAFE is looking quite beautiful.
Brunfelsia likes a fertile, well-drained soil and plenty of sunshine, it will tolerate a small amount of shade. It doesn’t mind it if it’s a bit dry and it will tolerate being wet, it survives through our summer heat and isn’t too affected by mild frost. This makes it a fairly hardy plant and, even better, it does well planted in a pot.
If you do decide to grow this plant in a container, make sure you keep it flowering well during the spring by fertilising with a liquid fertiliser, fortnightly, from about September until December.
So with its perfumed flowers in different shades you would think this plant was perfect, but there is a negative. The berries that appear after flowering have been known to poison dogs, so if you have a dog, and you have a Brunfelsia you should remove the berries as they appear.
The Brunfelsia is a plant that stimulates the senses.
- Deb Delahunty
There are a few different species of Brunfelsia available, some aren’t as scented and there is even a dwarf form that grows to about one metre.
The Brunfelsia is a plant that stimulates the senses, get one for your own garden or give one as a gift, just ensure you heed the warning that they are dangerous to dogs.
Diary Dates: The Growing Friends of Albury Botanic Gardens would like to let everyone know that they are open from 9.30am-noon, Tuesday and Thursday, for plant sales at their nursery behind the curator’s cottage. If you are seeking to learn about propagation, have fun and enjoy friendly company come and join the Growing Friends volunteers.
