Duranta stenostachya

[bahia]

I've always enjoyed this species of Duranta, which is much less commonly planted, but has many redeeming qualities if not quite as showy deep blue flowers as D. repens. It is much less agressively rampant as a shrub, and topped out at about 5 feet tall by across in my Berkeley garden after about 10 years of growth. It never had any problems with our winter cold, easily taking down to 26/27F with but minor leaf drop, and blooms over several months from early summer into mid fall. It also has the same yellow berries that extend the show. Available from San Marcos Growers in Santa Barbara.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20217462@N02/8259113957/

[fastfeat]

I'll be honest that, given the great number of cultivars of D. repens now in the trade, that I haven't spent much time to learn the differences between the species. My folks had a plant (labelled as D. stenostachya) in a big pot by the front door (great for stabbing people looking for the doorbell at night...). But it didn't look like this; inflorescences were pendant, growth was rather vigorous. I'm thinking it was mislabelled, in retrospect.

[bahia]

I'm not 100% certain that San Marcos Growers really has this Duranta correctly labeled as a true D. stenostachya, as when I look it up, the leaf size of the plant they grow seems wrong, but it is distinctly different from any of the D. repens cultivars I've seen here in the SF Bay Area, which admittedly aren't nearly extensive as they are in southern California, Florida or the tropics. I always did wonder whatever happened to Tropic Sphere's web site, at one time it was quite a useful place to get/share plant information, and I'd also love to know whether that arboreal Petrea species that Chris in Venezuela mentioned ever made it to Florida and may now be available at someone's nursery. In any case, it would probably be too tender to longer northern California winters.