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Duranta erecta 'Golden Edge' (Brazilian Sky Flower) - An upright evergreen shrub spreads with slightly arching branches to 12 feet or more tall (have had reports of it reaching 14 feet) and nearly as wide. The species, which grows taller and is sometimes seen as a small tree, is typically grown for its summer blue flower and ornamental fruit, but this cultivar adds a splash of foliage color to the mix with bright yellow margins on the leaves. In the summer, cascading clusters of light blue tubular flowers appear followed by wonderfully contrasting orange-yellow berries. In mild climates this plant can be in flower nearly year-round with flowers and fruit appearing at the same time.
Best planted in full to part sun with frequent deep watering and is hardy to about 20-25 ° F. A good choice for espaliers, as a small tree or large bush; all forms benefit from frequent selective pruning. Flowers are very attractive to butterflies. The attractive fruits and the foliage have saponins that are poisonous to humans. Both are considered to be bitter and while poisonings in the US were unreported in 1986 when Poisonous Plants of California was published (Thomas C. Fuller and Elizabeth McClintock, University of California Press, 1986), there were reports of children becoming ill from eating berries in Australia.
Duranta erecta, long grown as Duranta repens is native to the New World from Florida, the Caribbean south to Brazil. The name for the genus honors Castore Durante (AKA Castor Durante da Gualdo) a 16th century Italian botanist and physician who wrote a book in 1585 describing medicinal plants from Europe and East and West Indies. The specific epithet is descriptive of the upright habit of the plant and it has many common names, including golden dewdrop, pigeon-berry and sky-flower. We grew this cultivar from 2006 until 2012.
The information displayed on this page about Duranta erecta 'Golden Edge' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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