Shoal Creek is a popular vitex cultivar, with fairy-like panicles.
Photo by L.A. Jackson
While crape myrtles and butterfly bushes are standard choices for gardeners wanting summer-flowering woody ornamentals, I’ve enjoyed an additional showoff: vitex (Vitex agnus-castus).
Also called chaste tree, vitex is a warm-season bloomer that becomes generously bejeweled with fairy-like spikes of blossoms dipped in a gorgeous bluish-purple hue. Some cultivars sport white and pink flowers, but, to me, they don’t have the visual zing of typical vitex selections.
Vitex—not the nasty beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) that is like a coastal kudzu—is native to Europe and western Asia, but it has been grown on our side of the Big Pond for centuries. Heck, Thomas Jefferson liked this vitex so much that he planted nine rows of it at Monticello in 1807.
Not only is a blooming vitex pretty, but it also is a pretty busy hub of buzz, too. It is a major fly-in for bees and hummingbirds because they find the lightly scented flowers simply irresistible. Ditto for butterflies.
Vitex is a deer-resistant beauty that loves full sun and, once established, is quite drought-resistant, too. It is adaptable to most soil types—the exception being mucky, slow-draining areas, where it will suffer.
Autumn is a great time to plant woody ornamentals, so if vitex has piqued your curiosity, head off to your favorite local garden center—or online e-nursery—and let the hunt begin!
Shoal Creek is perhaps the easiest vitex cultivar to find, and it can be a biggie, maturing upward to 15 feet or more. I have Shoal Creek, but I cut the branches back to 2-foot nubs in late winter. They come roaring back the following spring, topping out at around 7 feet, stuffed full of blooms on the new growth.
If pruning is not one of your favorite garden chores, consider smaller varieties such as the cute Blue Puffball that restrains itself to about 4 feet tall or Blue Diddley, a 3- to 6-footer.
Having a short vitex means you can reach the flowers, not only to enjoy them up close and personal but also to cut them off after they begin to fade. This is a necessary chore because vitex has a strong proclivity to procreate (say that fast five times), which it can do if permitted to form seeds on the spent panicles.
SEPTEMBER IN THE GARDEN
With autumn moving in, veggie patches across the state can be filled this month with such cool-weather delectable edibles as collards, mustard greens, onions (sets), garden peas, radishes, broccoli, rutabagas, spinach, Brussels sprouts, carrots and turnips.
If your herb garden is getting a bit crowded by perennials such as chives, mint, parsley, lemon balm, oregano or thyme, now is a good time to dig up and divide the plants for more elbow room. And if you want fresh herbs during the winter, pot up a few of these divisions and set them in a sunny window indoors.
TIP OF THE MONTH: Continue to patrol the rose bed and pick off any leaves that show signs of ugly black spot. Toss them away; do not compost. Also, regularly rake up any spent petals and fallen foliage. This will help break up the life cycle of black spot, which is a soil-borne disease. For the same reason, since the ground remains black spot’s base of operation during the winter, after your roses have shed their final flowers and leaves for the season, rake up the surrounding mulch, discard it, and spread a fresh organic ground covering for the chilly months to come.
L.A. JACKSON is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.