Golden dewdrop

Golden dewdrop is grown for a long, easy season of small blue to violet flowers followed by clusters of orange-yellow berries, and it earns its place on this list as a genuinely fast, floriferous informal screen for a warm garden. It also carries the most serious safety warning of any plant in this entry’s cluster, and that belongs at the top of the page rather than buried at the bottom: the berries and leaves are confirmed dangerous to pets and children, not merely best avoided out of caution.

Light

Full sun to partial shade, flowering most freely with a full day of direct sun. In heavier shade it grows leggy and flowers less.

Water

Water regularly while it is establishing and through the growing season. It tolerates some drought once established, but the more common way to lose one is the opposite problem: poor drainage or overwatering leading to root rot, so err towards a soil that dries between waterings rather than one kept constantly damp.

Feeding and pruning

A monthly balanced organic feed from spring to autumn is reasonable practice, based on the one source available, though it has not been confirmed by a second. Prune with a light shaping cut in late winter, before the growing season starts, rather than a hard cut: cutting late in the season pushes tender new growth that is the first thing damaged by a cold snap.

Propagation

Softwood cuttings taken in spring or summer, or semi-hardwood cuttings from mid-summer to early autumn, both root reliably.

Where and whether to plant it

In a genuinely frost-free or near frost-free garden it behaves as a permanent, fast-filling evergreen screen, reaching three metres or more within a few years depending on the cultivar. In a marginal climate it is closer to a large perennial than a shrub: expect the top growth to die back most winters and regrow from the base once the weather warms, rather than treating a bare, apparently dead plant in early spring as a reason to dig it out. That same speed and readiness to spread from seed is why several regions, including parts of South Africa, Australia, Hawaii and southern Florida, list it as invasive, since birds carry the berries well beyond the original planting. Checking local guidance before planting it, rather than assuming a fast, pretty screen is automatically a good idea, is worth the five minutes it takes.

Ailments

Whitefly on the leaf undersides, with the sticky honeydew that follows, is the routine pest problem, caught easily with early insecticidal soap. Root rot from wet feet is the more serious risk to the plant itself, and good drainage from the start avoids most of it.

The safety point is worth repeating on its own. ASPCA carries no entry for Duranta erecta, which is a gap in that source rather than a clean bill of health: NC State Extension states plainly that the plant has been known to kill children, pets and animals if eaten, and a 2006 case series in the Australian Veterinary Journal documented drowsiness, seizures and gastrointestinal bleeding in nine dogs and a cat after they ate the fruit and leaves, three of which needed repeated sedative treatment to control the seizures. Where it is grown around children or pets that chew plants, keep the berries picked up rather than relying on the fruit looking unappealing. It is also flagged as invasive in parts of South Africa, Australia, Hawaii and southern Florida, since birds spread the seed well beyond the original planting, which is worth checking against local guidance before it goes in the ground at all.