To be honest, I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by the prospect of starting a new garden on a suburban block, when so far all I've kept is a very modest potted garden for the last 4 years. Sometimes I think I just don't know where to begin! But it has always been my intention to observe for at least a little while, perhaps a full year, to get to know what we have and what's worth keeping.
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| the Geisha Girl Golden Dewdrop in our garden is visited by many honey bees |
This small tree in our back yard was the only thing in full flower when we moved in a month ago, other than a few blooms on a grevillea. My research confirms its the Geisha Girl variety of the commonly named Golden Drewdrop.
Wikipedia tells me the proper name is Duranta erecta! Straight away we decided this was one worth keeping, with a profusion of bees visiting all through the day, its great to know we have pollinators visiting our garden. This will make the prospect of growing our own vegetables more viable, and the flowers have a gorgeous scent.
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| apparently the fruit of this Geisha Girl is poisonous |
But I am concerned about one sentence in the Wikipedia page that says "The leaves and berries of the plant are toxic, and are confirmed to have killed children, dogs and cats."!! This makes me wonder if we should reconsider keeping it? In the very least I think I shall go and remove the fruit that I can reach. I've already pruned the understory as I didn't want Thomas touching the fruit, but at the time I didn't know for sure it was poisonous! Hmmm, something to think about!
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