How to Grow and Care for Yesterday-Today-and-Tomorrow (Brunfelsia pauciflora)
Morphological characteristics: The plant grows 70-150 cm tall. Leaves are alternate and long lanceolate; flowers are solitary or in clusters of 2-3 in the leaf axils, salverform, with a five-lobed corolla, blue when first open, later turning white, so that a single tree bears two colors of flowers, with a light fragrance. The flowering periods are May-June and October-November.
Growth habits: It prefers warm, humid conditions with plenty of light, and loose, fertile soil. It tolerates partial shade, drought and poor soil, but dislikes waterlogging and is sensitive to cold. The optimum growing temperature is 18-30 degrees.
Care measures: North of the Yangtze River basin, yesterday-today-and-tomorrow can only be grown in pots.
(1) For home potting, use a mix of 5 parts leaf mold, 3 parts garden soil and 2 parts sand as the growing medium. Avoid sticky clay soil, otherwise the roots rot easily. When planting, place a layer of broken hard plastic foam pieces at the bottom of the pot to improve aeration and drainage and prevent root rot, and add 100-150 grams of bone meal or compound fertilizer to the growing medium. Repot and change the soil in early spring each year, keeping about 1/3 of the old soil.
(2) It likes moisture but fears waterlogging: water regularly during the growing season and spray the leaves, keeping the soil slightly moist but not waterlogged. In winter during dormancy, the soil should be slightly moist but not dry. During the growing season, apply a compound fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium once every 10-15 days. Do not apply nitrogen fertilizer alone, otherwise the branches and leaves grow excessively while flowers are sparse. Do not fertilize during dormancy.
(3) It likes light and warmth and is not cold-tolerant. During the growing season, place it on a south-facing balcony to get plenty of sunlight, but provide slight shading around midday in midsummer, as strong direct sun tends to yellow the leaves. When the winter temperature drops to around 5 degrees, move it indoors and place it on a sunny windowsill. It can overwinter safely above 3 degrees, and can continue to bloom at around 20 degrees.
(4) Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow needs regular pruning. A rounded canopy kept at 30-40 cm tall looks best. When repotting and changing the soil in early spring, cut it back hard, leaving 15-20 cm, and the healthy branches removed can be used for propagation. After flowering, a light pruning to remove spent flowers and inner branches is enough.
(5) Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow is fairly resistant, with very few pests and diseases; occasionally aphids and longhorn beetles cause damage.
Tip: When repotting, first place a 2-3 cm thick layer of coarse substrate at the bottom of the pot as a drainage layer, then sprinkle a layer of fully decomposed organic fertilizer on top as a base fertilizer, 1-2 cm thick, then cover with a thin layer of substrate 1-2 cm thick, and then place the plant in, keeping the fertilizer separate from the roots to avoid burning them.
