Hypericum olympicum

Submitted by Howey on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 15:36

This is a plant that I am very fond of but, so far, haven't grown in my garden. In Victoria, BC, there used to be a swath of it at our back door and I often wish, when we moved east, that I had brought a piece of it. However, at that time, unfortunately, I wasn't much into gardening. Can anyone tell me if it is a weedy plant? Reason is that about 10 seed pots planted last spring are presently sporting healthy looking leaves of, what to me, with those opposite leaves, look like those of H. olympicum. A friend pointed out that in a pot marked Hamamelus, there was just one seed near the surface of it - but the pot was filled with this other plant - not Hamamelus. We get a lot of Jananese honeysuckle seedlings, whose appearance is similar, and I'm wondering if that is what it is. Since there are so many, I have left some in the pots and planted others in various spots in the garden - some shade but I think it likes sun? Lots to ponder in a garden.
Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Comments


Submitted by Middleton on Sat, 09/03/2011 - 09:05

Hello Fran,
Hypericum olympicum is a  favourite of mine as well.  I’ve grown it from seed several times.  Love it’s masses of yellow blooms. I wish it were somewhat weedy but the location it has grown in the past here was too wet for its woody stem and after several years faded away.  This year I topped up the location against an old railway tie with sand hoping to have a mass H. olympicum next year with six new seedlings.
We are only a zone apart so I'd guess your H. olympicum will not prove weedy.