Hypericum frondosum ‘Sunburst’

Here’s a pretty two inch flower wearing the most magnificent little tutu. This is a well-behaved hypericum that does not have eyes on conquering the world as some St John’s worts do. It stays in one place, doesn’t seed everywhere and captures a little bit of sunshine in the garden for about a month. The plant doesn’t require pruning and makes a dense little mound of blue green leaves. It likes a bit of sun and good drainage and has become a very handsome low-maintenance three-foot hedge in our zone 7 climate, where it is also evergreen. Said to prefer alkaline soils, it seems to be fine in our acid soil.

This is a cultivar of a native from the American SE that grows from Kentucky and North Carolina into Alabama and Texas. In the wild, it survives on rocky hills and on limestone barrens.