Plant Details

Hypericum prolificum

Shrubby St. John's Wort

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Clusters of bright yellow flowers attract pollen-seeking bees, June-August.

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Description:

Shrubby St. John’s Wort is a small, rounded, multi-branched shrub adorned with clusters of 3-7 bright yellow flowers that bloom June-August. The fruit is a dry capsule that persists until the following spring. Blue-green fine-textured foliage turns yellow-green in fall. The leaves contain the toxic chemical hypericin, which deters deer browse. As the shrub matures, the older woody stems turn an attractive reddish-brown color and begin to exfoliate, offering interest in the winter garden. Native to dry meadows, fields, rocky bluffs, and rocky stream banks, Shrubby St. John’s Wort tolerates a range of soil textures, soil moisture, and soil pH. It tolerates drought, as well as flooding. This easy-to-grow, low maintenance shrub can be planted as a deciduous hedge, as a specimen plant in rain gardens, or for erosion control. It thrives in full sun or part shade, and is visited by a variety of pollinators. The flowers bloom on new growth, so prune in early spring before the buds are formed. Companion plants include Aster oblongifolius, Monarda fistulosa, or Rudbeckia hirta. 

Wildlife Value: The flowers do not produce nectar, but are visited by pollen-seeking bumble bees, halictid bees and syrphid flies. It is a host plant for caterpillars of Gray Hairstreak butterflies and a variety of moths.

Plant Details: