does st john's wort leaf out late or is it dead?

I have a variegated st. John's wort bush, bought last spring and did well all summer/fall. I checked it out the other day, and all the leaves are on it from last year, but dead, the bark looked a bit cracked, and even the new tiny growth toward the soil was brown and stiff. Please tell me this just leafs out later? I didn't have a trimmer to check if the branches had any green on the inside. I'm in zone 6.

Mine is late. Patti

phew! thanks, patti. I'll try trimming a few branches, looking for green. Does yours keep it's leaves?

beakerlj, I cut it back in the fall and then usually whack it again in the spring, as I never seem to cut enough back. No leaves in the winter and it looks very dead come spring. Here it is in a picture taken of my new Japanese Maple bed, thanks to your coop. It is that brown mass just about the yellow bags of peat toward the lower rt corner. This was taken on April 11 2009. I have had this plant here since the 1980's and have divided it many times. Patti

Here is the plant on April 28th of last year, just starting to show some green in the lower left corner. Patti

what zone are you in? I lost one here in my zone 5A to winter.

I know Nantucket has recently been moved to zone 7, but we get weather that is difficult for many plants in some winters. Not much snow cover, lot of thawing and then days of severe cold and wind. So I plant for Zone 6. I know Middlesex County well. Our son went to boarding school in Groton and my DH grew up in Belmont with lots of family still there. I don't know which beakerlj has, but this is one that I want Hypericum moserianum 'Tricolor' . or http://www.pbase.com/rickscustomnursery/image/93285770 or this one Hypericum x 'Blue Velvet' ™ http://www.pbase.com/rickscustomnursery/image/93285906 Good luck with yours. Patti

Yes, I am right near Groton. Very cold here. Just lost the last speck of snow from the big snowplow pile early this week!!

It was a H. tricolor I lost. Your link says its a Z6, which I agree. Most likely the tag on mine lied and said Z5. The marketeers really push those zones. Blue Velvet is listed as a Zone 4, but not nearly as pretty IMO. Thats quite a zonal difference for a species, but maybe the tricolor is the anomoly. I would guess MI is not Z6.

Mine is a glacier. See a picture here - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/201329/

So obviously, I'm very anxious about it. I was hoping to start taking cuttings from it this year for sale. I'm very happy to hear that yours is still brown in zone 7 in late April, but alive. I won't worry about mine until mid May! Wonderful garden, Patti! I was out talking to mine today - buds all over, starting to leaf out, and looking gorgeous! Pictures happening as soon as they leaf!

Sorry to hear your tricolor was lost! those look beautiful also. Those zones say different things - some err on side of caution, others try to push the limits, then you have microclimates to worry about - which I can never tell. Does the stream here keep things a bit warmer, or does the valley aspect create a cold sink? I can't get anyone to tell me for sure.

A little late finding this thread but hope I can offer some useful information :) There are over 425 species of Hypericum and it seems there is a lot of confusion regarding their hardiness. For example, H. androsaemum 'Glacier' is listed in PF as hardy to Z5, yet I'd be more inclined to believe Forest Farm's rating of Zone 7 for this plant as Dirr reports the straight species, H. androsaemum, as hardy for Zone 6 to 8.

beakerlj, you may be lucky and be able to keep your 'Glacier' alive as the snow cover I would assume you receive over the winter might provide enough insulation to at least keep the roots alive. However, you'll probably have the same problem I have with Hypericum moserianum 'Tricolor' - every year I have to cut it back to the ground :( I get frustrated with the plant every spring and contemplate yanking it! Even though it's late getting started, fortunately it's a fast grower and by mid summer it's 3' tall with gorgeous variegated foliage. I have the same problem in the gardens with Hypericum androsaemum 'Albury Purple' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/76625/ and Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/76629/. They both look miserable early in the spring but once the foliage finally appears I'm quite happy to leave them alone and once they flower and set fruit in the fall I'm reminded once again why I have to be patient with them :)

Patti mentioned 'Blue Velvet' - now this is one I NEVER complain about! Hardier than most, Zone 4, it's evergreen in our Z6 gardens. It looks a little shabby by the end of winter but by May the new foliage emerges and it's spectacular! I love its compact habit and even when it's not in bloom the blue-green foliage is attractive in the garden. This picture doesn't do it justice because it was taken in July when it was almost finished blooming and the light was too bright to capture the "blue" foliage.

And I love the flowers!

Another Hypericum I've been really pleased with is Hypericum calycinum 'Brigadoon' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/104509/. Normally this is evergreen for us but we've just experienced a very severe winter (-15 in January!) and all of the foliage turned brown this year :( It's alive but it will just take a little longer to bounce back! 'Brigadoon' is used as a groundcover since it only grows about 12"-15" tall. I've used it in several areas in the garden but this is my favorite combination, planted with Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' :)

I liked the combo so much I used it again! This time planted with 'Summer Chocolate' Mimosa which will hopefully grow tall enough for me to prune it up and arch over this planting. Last summer I planted more of the Eucomis to the left with Yucca 'Bright Edge' (green and gold spikes) to match the upright habit of the Eucomis. I also planted Yucca 'Sapphire Skies' (blue spikes) to blend with the silver foliage of the Stachys planted along the front of this border and Sedum 'Angelina' around the Eucomis for another "splash" of gold :) I had problems with moles tunneling through the new planting last fall and I'm hoping I can discourage them this year long enough to give the new plants a chance to get established!

Patti, Your gardens are very pretty. Of my 3 Albury purples, only one has started to leaf out. My 6 Brigadoons, only 2 are leafing out. My 4 Tutsans, only 1 has started to get leaves and neither of my Tricolors have any leaves yet.

RCN, you are right about this winter, it was brutal on the shrubs. Not only was it cold, but a lot of heavy snow lingered a long time and the entire season had fiercly drying winds. My Daphnes really took a beating, but most seem to be coming back. The poor Azaleas look terrible and are trying their best to put out some blooms and make new leaves. There was also a lot of ground heaving, especially with those two freezes in March.

I planted 30 young shrubs along my road side bed last summer, and don't yet know if more than 8 or so made it. I even made cages around all of them and stuffed them with leaves and even with that, when I removed the leaves, many of them had exposed roots and no topsoil. Let's hope we don't get another winter like this for a while.

Thanks stormyla, my couple of Albury got eaten, as always, this winter, so I finally moved them in early March to the part that is fenced and they are recovering. Here is a photo taken this morning of an old noid one that I have had for 25 years, not leafed out yet, but starting. Patti

Thanks, Patti. I hope that mine recover as they are all front & center!! This was my first year for Tri-color and I may be zone pushing on that one.

beakerlj & patti, Checked again today and one of the tri-colors has started to leaf out. Patti, they came from RCN.

Yea! Good to know. I'll recheck mine soon.

Well, I am officially calling these Albury Purples, goners!!! I have 3 of them planted here right in the front of the bed. The one on the left is trying to leaf out. The other two are just twigs. Why is it always the stuff right in front??? I have trillium planted between them and they have all made it. I placed this planter here so, the bare spot is not so big, but also because it's raised about 10" and the trillium can continue to grow under it.

In my case it may have been the nasty winter or it could be the voles. Won't know until they're dug. The other varieties are all trying to grow, some doing quite well. I think I spyed the second Tri-color leafing out today. A few more days will tell if that's it, when they start to color up or not.

I'm pretty sure mine is a gonner, also. Sigh. I special ordered that thing from across the country, and there's no chance of doing that again for a while.

Sorry to hear about yours!