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Duranta erecta 'Variegata' (Variegated Sky Flower) - This is the white variegated form of the popular Brazilian Sky Flower that is grown for its blue flowers and ornamental golden fruit. Like the species this evergreen shrub can grow quite large, reaching to small tree proportions to 20 feet tall or more with arching stems of elliptically shaped leaves splashed with a white variegation. From late spring through fall appear the cascading clusters of blue tubular flowers that are followed by 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. Benefit from frequent selective pruning. A good choice for espaliers, as a small tree or large bush and this cultivar is particularly nice in a part sun location where its nice variegation can help brighten up a spot in the garden and the flowers are very attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. The attractive fruits and the foliage have saponins that are poisonous to humans but are considered to be bitter and, while poisonings in the US were unreported in 1986 when Thomas C. Fuller and Elizabeth McClintock's Poisonous Plants of California (University of California Press, 1986) was published, 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, Mexico, the Caribbean south to Brazil and has many common names, including golden dewdrop, pigeon-berry and sky-flower. 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. We grew this plant from 1995 until 2008 and picked it back up again in 2020 and grew it until we closed the nursery in 2025. We also continued to grow the non-variegated blue flowering selection, Duranta erecta 'Alice Keck Park' and also long grew another species in the genus, Duranta stenostachya.
The information displayed on this page about Duranta erecta 'Variegata' is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
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