My pick for this month is the bright Gold Mound Duranta (Duranta Erecta 'Gold Mound') in the front yard.
To paraphrase, "It was a dark and shady spot". So this corner of the front yard needed colorful foliage to help brighten it up.
Just as important was the need to screen the lovely sights over by the neighbor's garage.
This Gold Mound Duranta with its bright lemon-lime foliage was just the plant for the job. Here they are freshly planted back in March 2012.
Gold Mound Duranta will mature at five feet, tall enough to help hide the neighbor's trash bins and utility meters on the side of the garage. It's already starting to make a difference, along with other plants starting to grow in the background.
Duranta is native to the Caribbean, including parts of Mexico, so it will die back if we have a cold winter. Once established it is fairly drought tolerant and when mature will produce pale lavender flowers similar to these on Duranta 'Sapphire Showers' in the back yard. (Flower for demonstration purposes only, not intended to slip flowers into a foliage post.)
These plants have a bright golden color in lower light.
The bright color picks up the yellow in the golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grunsonii) and Color Guard Yucca (Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard') in the sunnier part of the yard and repeats it in shadier area where yucca would not grow as well. (Opportunity to slip in another couple of foliage plants.)
I will add denser evergreen plants behind these and and extend shade loving plants in the corner under the existing plants next spring. Meanwhile I'll enjoy the bright color of the foliage.
Duranta is not considered deer resistant yet the deer do not bother it my yard and will even reach past it to get at other plants which are supposed to be deer resistant.
Gorgeous color to brighten up the shady spot near the house.
For more blogger posts on foliage, check out Digging. You'll find all the links in the comments section.
I love the Duranta and all kinds of it. I have a non- flowering, (or at least they told me it wouldn`t flower), type that is golden(durea?) and just shines. It`s next to a deep purple bloomed Duranta in an island bed up front. I plan to use this great plant more in the future. Thanks for focusing on it. The mass planting looks outstanding. Maybe someday I can get that through my head.
ReplyDeleteThey probably meant the gold duranta is more important for the foliage color. I think they all flower.
DeleteMass planting is the way to go with most landscape plants. Some specimen plants like brugmansia can stand alone.
Duranta - that's another reason to move to warmer parts of z 8 or 9. A friend in Phx had those blue blooms at his old house...amazing! Your mass is very attractive there.
ReplyDeleteIncredible flowers, the color is outstanding. Too cold here for that plant which is too bad as you mentioned the deer don't bother it. It could have been a winner for us.
ReplyDeleteShirley, you are an inspiration to me. I love your design and ideas. It's not that I've lost interest in plants but it has been so hot over the past months that I found other things to keep me going like birding. But yesterday, I went back out into my garden and got so much done. It was great going back to the nursery again and shopping for plants and planning projects for the courtyard....so thank you for the inspiration:) I had such a great time getting my hands back in the dirt again.
ReplyDeleteNot hardy here, but I sure do enjoy it as you have presented it. Who knows, in a few years we may get bumped up a zone.
ReplyDeleteI do love that golden color -- very Pacific Northwest, yet heat-loving. I think it might be a bit more cold-tender up in Austin, but I might consider it for a warmer, protected spot. It's really lovely.
ReplyDeleteThat looks so pretty Shirley! And y'all must be thrilled to be noticing those trash bins less and less. Gotta love functional plantings :) Cheers
ReplyDeleteWe have 6 of these they looked beautiful at one time,but in spite of spraying they are inundated with white fly.We cannot get rid of them Short of digging them out what can we do.?
ReplyDeleteI've not had problems with whitefly, just a few on the annuals now and then which is easy to take care of. If they are only on one type of plant I would try to figure out the source of them and the reason because if you take out the plant they might go to another one.
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