View Full Version : Garden herbal question
The A Team
09-24-2011, 04:05 PM
Hello fellow gardeners,
I have a big, healthy Vitex shrub that is about 10 years old. For the last 2 years it has flowered, but produced very few berries, which I use to make medicine.
It has gotten the same amount of compost etc. & I haven't seen birds eating them.
I am stumped.
Please advise?:hmmm:
redheifer
09-25-2011, 12:25 PM
Hello fellow gardeners,
I have a big, healthy Vitex shrub that is about 10 years old. For the last 2 years it has flowered, but produced very few berries, which I use to make medicine.
It has gotten the same amount of compost etc. & I haven't seen birds eating them.
I am stumped.
Please advise?:hmmm:
Has this plant ever been pruned? Most flowering shrubs do much better with judicious pruning. Can't give but hearsay, as this plant is still on my wish list, but I have been reading up on it. Since it flowers on the present season's growth, American Horticultural Society (Pruning and Training) recommends pruning flowered shoots back to the spurs on the main stems in the spring. They also suggest that it can be cut back hard each year, either of which treatments should get it past its chaste behavior. Here's a link to some more information: https://grumpygardener.southernliving.com/grumpy_gardener/2009/06/chaste-tree-is-pure-delight-.html.
The A Team
09-25-2011, 03:04 PM
:dragonfly:Thanks for the link,
I do prune it... but I'll try the specific method from the grumpygardener.
I recommend & love this plant, it gives so much beauty and medicine. It has violet-blue flowers spring and summer and the bees go wild for it.
:dragonfly:Thanks for the link,
I do prune it... but I'll try the specific method from the grumpygardener.
I recommend & love this plant, it gives so much beauty and medicine. It has violet-blue flowers spring and summer and the bees go wild for it.
Good luck with your Vitex. I have one about that old and haven't noticed any changes in seed production. I'm glad to see some thumbs-up for vitex, as it is a lovely landscaping plant, the bees absolutely love it, and it is drought tolerant and a useful medicinal herb.