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Golden Dewdrops
Location
Butterfly Garden
Golden Dewdrops
- Common Name: Golden Dewdrop
- Scientific Name: Duranta erecta
- Family Name: Verbenaceae
- Origin: South America
- Height: 10 to 20 ft
- Width: 6 to 19 ft
- Growth: Fast
- Zone: USDA Zones 9 through 11
- Light needs: Full sun
- Salt tolerance: Low
- Soil/pH/Texture: Prefers a moist, fertile, well-drained soil with a circumneutral pH between 5.6 and 7.5.
- Moisture: Medium water needs, soil should be kept moist but not waterlogged.
- Drought tolerance: Moderate
- Pests/Diseases: Whiteflies and root nematodes
- Growing conditions: Should be grown in a warm area in full sun. It can tolerate light shade but will not flower as much. It is drought tolerance once established and is overall a low-maintenance plant. It may need pruning because it grows very fast and can get out of control. If it’s grown in a cold area, it must either be brought indoors for winter or grown as an annual.
- Characteristics: This plant grows to be a large, weeping shrub. It has several clumping stems which are usually covered up by the foliage. The stems are thin and leggy. Leaves grow oppositely and are ovate with serrate margins. Each leaf has a thorn below it on the stem. Flowers grow along the ends of stems in clusters. The flowers are bluish-purple with white edges around each of the five petals. The fruits are small, bright orange berries.
- Propagation: By seeds or by cuttings.
- Wildlife: Butterflies and other pollinating insects are attracted to the flowers. Birds eat the berries.
- Facts: Although the berries are a favorite of birds, they are poisonous to most other animals as well as humans.
- Designer considerations: It is commonly used as a specimen planting because of its colorful flowers and fruit. With enough pruning, it can be trained into a large hedge.