Duranta

How to choose a duranta

For a clipped hedge or border, the Sheenas Gold Duranta is the well known choice, with lime gold foliage that holds its colour when trimmed, at anything from knee height to about a metre and a half. The Squatters Gold Duranta is another gold foliage selection grown for the same purpose. Both colour most strongly in full sun and turn greener in shade.

For flowers, the Geisha Girl Duranta carries arching sprays of deep violet blue flowers with a white edge through the warm months, on a shrub that reaches two to three metres if left unpruned. The Alba Duranta is the white flowered form. Flowering durantas can be grown as an informal screen, a large feature shrub or trained as a small standard.

Where duranta grows

Duranta is most at home in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens, from north Queensland down the east coast to Sydney, and in Perth. It grows in mild parts of the south with shelter, but frost burns the foliage and hard frost can cut plants back, so it is not a hedge for cold inland districts. It takes full sun or part shade, most soils with reasonable drainage and coastal conditions with some protection.

The berries of duranta are poisonous if eaten, so choose a low fruiting form or trim after flowering where children and pets play; in warm climates keep it out of bushland, as the species can spread by seed. Some forms also carry thorns on older stems. For other choices see our hedging and screening plants and flowering plants.

Planting and spacing

Dig over the planting strip, mix in compost and plant at the same depth as the pot. For a low clipped hedge of a gold form, space plants 40 to 50 centimetres apart. For a taller hedge or screen of a flowering form, space them about a metre apart. Water in well and mulch. Tip prune from the start to make the plants branch low.

Care basics

Water regularly for the first few months. Once established, duranta is fairly drought hardy but grows and colours better with a deep watering in dry spells. Feed in spring and again in late summer with a general garden fertiliser.

Clipped gold hedges grow quickly in warm weather and need trimming every four to six weeks in the growing season to stay sharp. Trim flowering forms after each flush of bloom, which removes the developing berries and brings on more flowers. Old, leggy plants can be cut back hard in spring and will reshoot from bare wood. Our Geisha Girl duranta care guide has more on pruning and training.

Common questions

How fast does duranta grow?

Quickly in warm climates. A hedge of young plants usually knits together within a year or two, given water and regular tip pruning.

Is duranta poisonous?

The berries are poisonous if eaten by people or pets. Trim after flowering to remove them, or grow a clipped foliage form, which rarely flowers or fruits.

Why has my gold duranta turned green?

Usually too much shade. The gold forms need full sun for strong colour. Regular clipping also helps, because the new growth is the brightest.

Does duranta tolerate frost?

Only lightly. Foliage burns in frost and plants can be cut back by a hard one, though established shrubs often reshoot in spring. In frosty areas plant it in a warm, sheltered position.