St. John's Wort with Ornamental Fruit

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Hypericum inodorum
Hypearl Compact Red48" tall
Plant Delights Nursery posted on their blog recently about a new St. John's Wort with Ornamental Fruit, Hypericum inodorum Hypearl Compact Red. It is really beautiful! 

 It's one of the hundreds of interesting selections in this year's catalog from plantsman Tony Avent and his crew at PD Nursery.

 Tony said the hardiness range is 6a to 9b so we are just barely safe to plant it but with winter protection ... . 

 Several years ago I received a garden writer sample plant of Hypericum Hypearls Renu from Blooms of Bressingham and it is thriving seven years later in part shade. 

Just in case you were planning to go looking for Blooms of Bressingham they now call themselves Must Have Perennials (wholesale) and rozanne and friends (retail).

 Hypericum, St. John's Wort, in general, is considered a butterfly attracting plant and there are many varieties.

Common St. John's Wort, Hypericum calycinum, has a bad reputation for being quite invasive from Canada to Texas.
Hypearls Renu
At the Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, they planted St. John's Wort in a dry rock garden setting and let it grow. It is very drought tolerant once established.

 The species St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.) is also recommended as a part-shade ground cover for our zone by Gardening Know How.

 Plant Delights Nursery online catalog says, 
"Just exactly who is St. John, and why does he have worts? "Botanically speaking, 'wort' is an old English word meaning 'plant', not a skin disorder. Hypericum is a genus of perennial wildflowers that has been associated with John the Apostle for hundreds of years because it blooms on or around the Feast of St. John in midsummer.
In the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that hypericum possessed magic powers and would hang it around their houses for protection from witches and evil spirits. Prior to that, the Druids of pre-Christian Europe and the ancient Greeks also worshipped hypericum because its large yellow flowers symbolized the sun and its bounties. Even today, hypericum extract is a popular medicine to treat depression and other medical disorders, certainly the modern equivalent of being haunted by evil spirits, although that's not why we sell it.
We grow hypericum because it is a great landscape plant that attracts butterflies. It produces hundreds of yellow flowers during the summer months and it is extremely tough. Many hypericums are drought-tolerent, tolerate a wide range of soil types and grow well in full or part sun. When you are ready to buy hypericum for your perennial garden, we hope you'll check out our online offering of hypericum for sale. It is worth noting that some species are North Carolina native plants."


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