Hyper Colored Hypericum for Wildflower Wednesday

Cedar Glade St Johnswort is a blaze of multicolored leaves from October  through December in my garden.

 A study in yellows, golds and burgundies  greets me as I walk the garden.

Hypericum frondosum is a fantastic plant that is as happy in a cultivated  garden or woodland  as it is in the forested understory  near a cedar glade.  It's an easy to grow native of the Southeastern US, including Texas and Louisiana.  It flowers best in full sun with decent moisture, but tolerates dry shade very well.  I mulch it with fallen leaves, but, occasionally it dies back.  Not to worry, it blooms on new growth.  

It came to my garden as the cultivar  'Sunburst'; a shorter, more compact looking shrub then  the species.    The mother plant is long gone and all the seedlings have grown to  resemble H frondosum with its  lankier growth habit.

 I love them. I  love their lanky growth; their exfoliating bark; their blue green summer foliage; their hyper colored fall foliage; their golden sunburst flowers; and,  that bees and other pollinators  flock to them when in bloom.  It's a short lived and free seeding plant and that ain't bad! I've massed them in the garden and still have had enough to share with friends.

Click to enlarge this one!

 I think they are stunning plants in the fall, handsome in the summer and striking in the winter.

At a  friend's house

Every fall when I see their  brilliant color I wonder why more American gardeners haven't planted them.  I think they  make a wonderful substitute for the invasive and  ubiquitous  Euonomous alata.   They really are fine looking, four season  semi woodie shrubs that gives you a lot of bang for the gardening buck.

I love the excellent  blue-green foliage and bright sunny yellow flowers.

How could you not consider this beauty for your garden!



The facts about Hypericum frondosum

• Plant type                 shrub      Native Southeast, Mid-Atlantic states, Louisiana and Texas
• Light                        full-sun-to-part-shade
• Height                      2 ft.6 in. to 4 ft.
• Spread                      about 3 ft.
• Habit                        upright
• Soil pH                     slightly-acidic-to-neutral-pH6.5-7
• Soil moisture            dry, tolerates wet soil in winter
• Bloom time               early June at Clay and Limestone
• Flower color             yellow
• Bloom size                2 in. to 2 in.
• Foliage color             a luscious blue-green
• Foliage size               4 in. to 4 in.
• Faunal Associations  Hairstreak caterpillar and bees  

 Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Please add your url to Mr Linky and leave a comment. xxoogail