TWO MORE MEMBERS ARE IN

FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS, I searched without much purpose the botanical name for the over used, abused, Rain Joe.  Duranta repens,  thank God, is the name.  Every imaginable fool, plants this wonderful bush, tolerant to heat/sun/drought and mutilates it for hedges.

For some reason, the unusual chartreuse green leaves in the tropics,  caught my attention. On the other hand, it is planted so often in stupid looking hedges, that I felt some repulsion at the same time.  I bought two. anyhow in some nursery when they were sixteen inches tall two years ago. One is shown at right, the other is in the west garden, to be featured later,  between the Guaicum officinale and Calliandra haemathocephala.

At any rate. the beauty of this small tree/bush is in the rare orange berries racemes and violet fragrant little flowers.  These three aspects color, berries and flowers is what makes this species so attractive. People constantly pruning it, miss the most significant feature of  Duranta repens.

The populace uses it as hedges, yours truly as focal point, or conversation piece. Imagination  works as a spark. Letting  it grow as nature demands transforms this impressive member of the collection.  

Let the record show that I am not prone to buy plants in nurseries, that is for wimps, or people in the Green Industry without any option. In my collection, one pink Plumeria, a couple of Asparagus, the columnar type, one Phalaenopsis, and seasonal Poinsettias are/were bought in nurseries.  Everything else has been  product of stroll collection, swap, exchange or presents.

Another rare, not too common, inductee, with beautiful white flowers and green leaves on top with dark purple in the underside is Clerodendrum quadriloculare.  The 3,  traveled from San German, from cut stems, were a present from Tito Collazo, a neighbor, collaborator, graphic artist and gardening fan.


The problem, with Josefinas, if not careful when planting, is their propensity to be invasive. Believe or not they tend to propagate as grass does, by stolons/rhizomes  through their root system. 


Moral of the story...In a country such as the one I have to live, refusing peer pressure, not going with the flow, present great opportunities to do things differently with nice visual impact in the garden. To set trends if I may, often.

time to depart...

apaga i vete.