The Nature of Things

Duranta erecta , popularly known as golden dewdrop plant, is a sprawling, tender evergreen shrub that can grow quite large. Some have reached tree-size as tall as 18 feet. The plant grows almost as wide as its height. It forms multi-stemmed clumps with branches that droop and trail. In addition, some of the bushes can get quite spiny, although some others develop no spines at all. My shrubs - I have three - are still fairly young and they are three to four feet tall and still growing both vertically and horizontally. They've been covered in these showy flowers this summer. The flowers develop on racemes of up to six inches long. The individual flowers are tubular shaped and have five petals. They can be light blue to purple. There is also a white cultivar, but all of mine are blue or purple. After a long period of bloom, the flowers fade and the golden berries that give the plant its popular name develop. These berries are devoured by several species of birds in fall and into winte...