Duranta repens: A magnet for bees, butterflies and birds
DURANTA repens, also known as Geisha Girl, Sky Flower, Golden Dew-drop, Sheena’s Gold, or Sweet Memories, to name a few, is a member of the Duranta family of shrubs, and hails from areas ranging from Southern Florida to Mexico, and from Brazil to the Caribbean. The genus name is in honour of Castor Durantes, a fifteenth century Italian botanist. The specific epithet, ‘repens’ means “creeping” in Latin.
This small evergreen shrub with bright yellow foliage is ideal for low and clipped hedges. It is a fast growing and usually sprawling shrub with drooping and trailing foliage of lush-green or yellow, shiny, egg-shaped leaves on branches that can  reach between 1.5-3m (5-10 ft) in height, and be just as wide.
Sweet smelling flowers measuring 12.7mm, or 0.5 inches across, are produced in clusters in colours of deep violet blue or purple, sky blue or white, on the terminal growth of the graceful weeping branches. These flowers bloom throughout the year, making the plant a magnet for the three Bs (bees, butterflies and birds)
The fruits are rounded berries, and are usually borne in large clusters which turn in colour from green to orange or yellow as they mature, but they are not edible.
Local Horticulturalist and collaborator Hans Neher says that, because of its sprawling form of growth, DR can be trimmed either as an individual plant with a beautiful shape, or can be grown and pruned to make a hedge — a fragrant hedge.
The colour of the plant, he said, also provides a great foliage colour contrast in large gardens, forming an effective partner to blue or purple flowers, or with variegated yellow/green foliage plants, or echoing the hue of yellow flowers from plants grown nearby. Hans says that DR is an easy to grow plant, best grown in a loose mix of well drained sand and clay, and that it can withstand tough weather and does not demand much attention.
DR can be propagated from seeds, but is also available for purchase as a small plant at the # 1 Plant Shop in Sheriff Street, Georgetown.