If so, where do you have yours planted? Is it pruned like a tree or a bush? Does it get really big? I've got one that I overwintered in a pot from the last swap and want to plant it in the next few days. I have an idea where I would like it but wondering if it will be too big.
Do you have a Vitex tree?
Hi Paige!
..........Happy Birthday!!!..........
I planted mine in full sun. It takes time for them to get really big and it can be longer if you prune it back each time the blooms are done, and then in fall. It is trimmed to grow as a tree instead of a shrub. They can be pruned so creatively. I love the bending branches at the bottom, kind of an exotic habit.
Give it a good 3 feet on each side if you have it line a shrub, and if like a tree, you can plant things around under it that like a little shade later on.
This is one of the very best hummer BF plants, I can't imagine not having one now.
Deb
Here is how I placed it>
Here is a closer up pic that shows more of how it is shaped to grow straight up. I like the little crook at the base of the trunk.
Will get a better pic today bc it is a bit hard to see when everything is just coming out of dormancy.
Deb
Paige, I cut mine down to about 2' because the space is not that big and I want it to remain shrublike. But, even then it will get to about 8' tall. I even moved it once because I had it in too much shade and it survived.
Happy Birthday again.....can one ever get too many birthday wishes? lol
Deb, yours is a nice one.
Mine gets full sun from mid-morning to early evening. In my yard, it'll never get above 12 feet (caliche tends to keep such plants shorter) if even that, so I haven't pruned or anything so far. Probably never will. I love it!
Mine is still a baby in a 12" pot. I want mine to grow into a tree, but realize that it will be harder to keep pruned so it will bloom well.
Paige, I found a link to A & M's Plant Answer.com. The third photo from the bottom is what convinced me to go for a tree shape.
Deb, thanks for the info on its growth speed.
http://www.plantanswers.com/vitex.htm
I love my 2 vitex's as well..! My large purple one is planted in full sun...as well as my white one. The blooms are wonderful...and keep returning as long as you keep deadheading them thru out the summer. And due to our awful drought last year...my vitex were beginning to drop some of their leaves but are popping out again as I type... :) Can't wait for bees and butterflys to return.
Melanie
I LOVE my Vitex. It's planted in full sun and shaped to grow into a tree. It's about 6' tall now and is just starting to bud out. I pruned it pretty good last month and it seems to be happy that I did.
See, everyone loves a Vitex, once they find the perfect place and form. It was the flower that drew my first Hummers to my yard. They couldn't resist it coming every 10 minutes for a drink. I could almost set my watch by them.
Here is a pic from another DGer that convinced me to grow it like a tree>
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/39966/
Note the crooks in the lower limbs... Suppose it would be pruned like a Youpon or Crepe Myrtle. To me it looks kindof Oriental trimmed this way ^^.
Here is a Hummer snacking, Paige, you might remember this from last year>
Deb
>Edited to say the Tree in the url above was about 20 years old at the time of the pic.
This message was edited Mar 22, 2007 7:32 AM
Does anyone know if the named varieties, the pink and the white one all bloom at the same time? It would be great if they didn't. I'd like to attract more than just the casual hummer to my yard.
Deb, love the photo.
Veronica
Got two last year and can't wait for them to bloom!
Awesome Sheila!! and thanks Veronica!
Have you noticed the plant Dave has picked for tomorrow's the 23rd? Bloom.com ? Check the link at the bottom of the page.
He also liked David's picture.. quite an inspiration, huh?
TY for bringing it to our attention Sheila.... :-)
Deb
I've got three of these. One was in the garden when we bought the house four years ago. It's about 20 feet tall and about 10 feet across. It was pruned horribly in it's previous life and we've been trying to shape it up some. The other two are about 2 years old. I think they'll survive just about anything except standing water. I love them and have one planted with a pink butterfly bush and an esperanza in the same bed area. The butterflies and hummers flock to this area of the garden.
Oh my! Thank you the b'day wishes and all the responses! I'm really excited about this now! I've just never considered one before because I don't really have room for it but jumped at the chance for it at the swap. I was so happy to see it survived the winter in a pot.
I've really wanted some sort of tree in the center of my back bed for a long time now but have not been able to find just the right thing. I started out wanting some sort of tree that produced some fruit for birds but most get too big or have some sort of maintenance issue. The Vitex might be just the thing since it attracts the butterflies and hummers!
I'm not sure tho if I would rather it be a tree or a bush tho. Mine has several branches but not sure if there is only one main trunk. I always have vines in the center of my fence as the focal point but this would be beautiful and I can move the vines to each side. Yippee!
I also love the aroma of vitex leaves...really really nice after a rain, and bees seem to like the blooms as well.. :)
Melanie
Great idea for the center of your beautiful garden Paige. That's actually what I wanted.. I thought it would look good with some Cassia (Senna Alata), about 8 feet forward from it. ...Purple spires and yellow ones in the same line of vision.
I was happy to find this tree growing one at Green mamas a couple months ago.
You might think about how the shade will be cast from it as a shrub, and as a tree. Also think about how easy it will be to get around to tend other plants. That's why I wanted it to grow 'up' like a tree, and why I put it out and away from the other beds.
A tree one would be gorgeous in your front yard where you don't have trees yet. It wouldnt block the view of your front beds from the street.
Now I want another one.....LOL!
I've never had a yard where I could grow a vitex but the ones I have actually seen just look unkempt and scraggly. Some of you seem to be doing something good w/them. I had a Desert Willow which has a wild type of growth but we loved the flowers. Unfortunately a little hurricane uprooted it and it couldn't be saved so we had it cut off and uprooted.
Ann
...and it smells good too! I would love to put it in the front yard Deb but my son and his friends have got to have some area to play in. I've already taken up almost all of the back yard! lol
I always consider every angle when planting something. My Red Oaks in the front yard are placed so that each one blocks the neighbor's across the street windows from my front window. One also will eventually give shade to the front porch in the late afternoon sun.
In the backyard I already have trees in the corners, which never block the light coming into my living room. I'm wanting to plant the Vitex at just the angle to eventually block the view of the neighbors behind us windows. :)
BUT after careful consideration of all my trees, I failed yesterday. I finally planted my gangly Brugs in a pot into a spot in the back bed. I turned it so the branches curved away from the house and this morning when I looked out at it I realized they are blocking my view of the bird feeder!! I may have to cut it back so it will grow upright now.
Aw Ann, Sorry to hear you lost it..:-(. I know where a Desert Willow is, and I might be able to snag a cutting and root it for you if you like.. Let me know. I need a Willow myself anyway. Salix is a host plant for Tiger Swallowtails.
Deb
Oh boy, talk about strange growth. I've got a Desert Willow (thank you Josephine) that started off as a stick and grew sideways! I considered moving it all winter but just didn't know where to put it. I've currently got it held up straighter by a little shepherd's hook but don't know if it will ever stay up. I'm hoping that this year a bottom branch will sprout and maybe I can cut the crazy one off. I guess I should investigate tho and see if they always grow crazy. ?
A good pruning in fall, and some throughout the season usually helps train an otherwise "crazy" growing plant.. With it sideways, you are doing well to shore it up straight as you can now.
Paige, I have a feeling Vitex will become one of your new favorite plants.... I know it is one of mine.
Deb
I love my Desert Willow too......Mine is sprouting leaves as I type and the blooms are definitely worth the long wait... :) I took this photo last year...
Melanie
Wow, I can actually answer this one! (I'm new.) I planted mine when it was quite small, in one of those looks-like-terra-cotta-but-really-styrofoam large pots from Home Depot. I have a container garden. I was amazed at how quickly it grew, and at how beautiful the purple blossoms were all summer. It's now a good 9' tall and still going strong. Recently I noticed that its pot was sort of tilted to one side, and when I went to straighten it I discovered a HUGE taproot had grown right through the bottom of the thick styrofoam pot and (apparently) deep into the ground! It rooted itself permanently next to my fence. Fortunately I love it.
I'm in Garland, Texas.
Welcome dsmorris to DG and the Texas Gardening forum! The more the merrier and most of us need all the help and support we can get no matter how long we have been gardening. Something new always arises. The Desert Willow has that long tap root and the one we had was snaking toward the foundation but that was the only thing that was underground after that silly hurricane. (I say silly because it was supposed to hit Victoria in the afternoon and it hit about 9:30 am and that same hurricane took out our 200'+ pier and others on Carancahua Bay where we have our waterfront home.) It also took out a portion of wood fence w/the Swt. Autumn Clematis (which continued to bloom despite the fact that the fence was lying on top of it except for the part that was up in a neighbor's dead bush). The fence was "living" on borrowed time since it was thoroughly eaten up by the termites and assorted vermin so that was no loss. The storm didn't faze my Mexican Olive or the TX. Mountain Laurel. Hurricanes are such fickle storms.
Debnes, you are an angel to offer a rooted cutting! I would love one! Are you one of the people coming to CS for the 3/28 RU? I can't keep track of who is coming and who isn't.
Ann
A phot of one of the largest ones I have seen in San Antonio ...
A white blooming one ...
How huge! and very Beautiful! I think I am going to learn how to Bonsai to keep it smaller and managable for as many years as possible. Serious!
Nice pics Hazel :-)
Thanks, Deb. I am sure that the 2 above are very old specimens.
Wow....beautiful trees...... I wonder how old they really are? :)
Melanie
Melanie, I think that they must be over 30 years old.
Ahh....ok...... Would love to see them sometime.....As you can see, my vitex tree is still quite young...but very happy where it is. :) A nesting pair of wrens keep house in the birdhouse right behind it.
Melanie
Melanie, very pretty.
I have two types,
One has very violet leaves underneath, that is a very strong and fast grower. This one is planted in front full sun, and is going to be trimmed like a tree, right now it is very shrubby. The other one is the type that is in the photo from htop, and indeed there is a specimen in our neighborhood that tall, and in fact is what inspired my to obtain mine. The trees are comepletely spectacular in full bloom with the most beautiful blue I have seen.
They are drought tolerant and can't wait till mine bloom in a couple of weeks.
Rj
I know the feeling! The leaves are definitely out on my purple one...and my smaller white one is now leafing out. I can't wait for those blossoms again. :)
Melanie
Oh yeah leaves are popping on mine too.....compare with the pic I posted way up this thread just about a week ago...WOW!
I'm with you judd,
....and Melanie!! Great job with yours~ perfect pruning!!.. I love it!
We'll be seeing blooms soon!
What with all of this rain that we're luckily getting...I love the way that the leaves smell when they're rainy wet. :) Just wonderful!
Thanks Deb... :) I need to prune my tree a bit more....but I don't want to disturb my wren babies right now. :)
Melanie
I agree, although I'm a bit concerned for my area as the percentage of rain went to 50 percent..that means hit and miss...but I'll check the cast again
Never mind....our 50 percent waterfall just hit ...
