Vitex
Vitex agnus-castus
- Sun
- Full Sun, Part Shade
- Water
- Low, Moderate, Prefers dry conditions once established
- Mature size
- 10-15 ft tall x 15 ft wide. Can grow larger in favorable conditions
- Best for
- Ornamental Tree, Pollinator Plant, Patio Tree, Drought-tolerant Landscaping
Gallon — $15 — only 1 left
About this size
- Gallon
- Our standard size: a 1-gallon nursery pot, about 6–7 inches across.
Pay at the nursery, plus 6.75% sales tax. Send your request and we'll confirm availability and your pickup time within 24 hours, then hold your plants. How it works
Planting & care
- Growth habit
- Vase-shaped, spreading, coarse-textured, usually multi-stemmed unless trained to a single trunk.
- Typical bloom
- May–Nov
- Cold hardy to
- Zones 7–10
- Soil
- Well-drained soil; adaptable to many soil types if drainage is good. Avoid mucky or chronically wet ground.
Where to plant
Full sun — best bloom density and most compact form come with full sun; part shade reduces flowering and encourages leggier growth. It's adaptable to rocky, sandy, loamy, or clay soil as long as drainage is good.
Watering
Low once established. Water regularly the first growing season to develop strong roots; reduce significantly after that, and avoid standing water or poorly drained spots.
Cutting back
Cut back by a third to a half in late February or early March before new growth begins. Since it blooms on new wood, spring pruning doesn't cost flowers — it promotes a stronger, more uniform flush. Removing spent flower spikes through the season encourages repeat bloom.
About Vitex
For a large, dramatic plant that blooms all summer long when the heat is at its worst, right when most flowering shrubs give up, Vitex is one of the most dependable options for North Texas. This fast-growing shrub or small tree pushes long, showy spikes of lavender-blue flowers from May through October, drawing bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds from across the yard for months on end.
Aromatic, palmately compound leaves with narrow leaflets give the foliage a sage-like scent when crushed, and silver-gray bark grows shaggy with age, adding texture even out of bloom.
Vitex thrives in the conditions that define a Texas summer: blazing full sun, alkaline soil, minimal rainfall, and stretches of triple-digit heat that would stress most ornamentals into dormancy. Once established, it asks for almost nothing beyond a late-winter pruning to keep its shape tidy.
At 10 to 15 feet tall with a wide, graceful spread, it works as a specimen tree, a flowering screen, a patio focal point, or an anchor in a drought-tolerant mixed border — hard to walk past when it's in bloom.