Duranta ‘Sheena’s Gold’ is extremely versatile and strikingly conspicuous in the garden. This rewarding shrub is planted throughout the warmer regions of South Africa in a wide and diverse range of garden applications, including hedging and topiaries.

It is a dense, compact shrub that bears leaves which are larger than most other species. It is grown for its colourful foliage and bears hardly any flowers.

In suitable conditions and if left unpruned, the plants can become sizeable, up to 4m tall. However, they can be kept quite successfully as low hedges in formal gardens, pot specimens, trained as standards or as feature shrubs and filler plants in large landscapes.

Use ‘Sheena’s Gold’ in full sun positions where the rich golden foliage shines and sparkles to optimum effect. It withstands light frosts only, so is best grown in warm, frost free gardens. It copes with seaside conditions and is suitable both for containers and out in the garden. In colder climates the foliage turns purple to black in winter, quite a natural phenomenon and nothing to panic about.

The serrated leaves are bright green, surrounded by a yellow edging, which intensifies to gold in the direct sun. It will grow to approximately three metres high and two metres wide, attaining its ultimate height in about three to four years.

The new foliage emerges rapidly after each successive clipping. Left to grow unchecked, it forms a dense boundary hedge or screen and remains neat and tidy for most of the year. Yellow- or golden-foliaged plants stand out in the garden, contrasting strongly with the predominantly green leaves of most other plants.

Loose sprays of powder-blue or white flowers appear sporadically in spring and summer on the tips of branches.