Other Names:  Mount Olympus St. John's Wort

Description:

A dwarf, low mounded garden shrub, featuring pale yellow flowers with prominent deeper yellow stamens in mid summer; evergreen in warmer climates; great for groundcover, or a as a garden accent; tolerates dry conditions very well once established

Ornamental Features

Citrinum St. John's Wort features dainty yellow star-shaped flowers with lemon yellow anthers at the ends of the branches from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive grayish green foliage with hints of silvery blue. The tiny oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Citrinum St. John's Wort is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Citrinum St. John's Wort is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Citrinum St. John's Wort will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to dry locations, and dislikes excessive moisture. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. This plant does not require much in the way of fertilizing once established. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Citrinum St. John's Wort makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.