'Hidcote' Gold St John's Wort Bushes

'Hidcote' St John's Wort Plants: Hypericum x hidcoteense

Golden yellow, lightly scented flowers about 8cm wide, with prominent stamens that stand out against the evergreen, deep green foliage. Can be used as ornamental hedging. To 1.5m

Browse our other evergreen hedging, or all our garden shrubs.

Features:

• Golden yellow flowers
• Blooms July-September (longer in the South)
• Deep green foliage
• Evergreen shrub
• Decent as ornamental hedging & ground cover
• Good for bees.
• Not to be confused with medicinal herb St John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum
• To 1.5m
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Hypericum 'Hidcote'

Any well-drained soil is fine, in sun or partial shade, though improve poor soil with compost, and shelter from harsh winds. If it gets too battered in winter, it may die back to the ground until spring, but that should only happen in a really severe year.

In Your Garden Design

Whatever the weather, this dense-growing hypericum will provide a cheery show of sunshine in its flowers over several months. Plant singly or en masse as a hedge which Hidcote has done very effectively at the end of a lawn. It is also good for gardens bothered by deer - they are not interested. A plant combination we have seen in a Dorset garden that is good in a spacious border is a lovely pink blush of a shrub rose such as Rosa Grootendorst (which can be a turned into a hedge too) or Rosa de Rescht. A climbing hydrangea, such as Petiolaris, would make a good backdrop for it and it also contrasts well with grasses and hot-coloured Pink perennials.

Did You Know?

One of many plants named after Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire ('Hidcote' Lavender is another), which was bought in 1907 by Mrs Gertrude Winthrop, a wealthy American. The world-famous Arts & Crafts garden was designed by her son, Major Lawrence Johnston, from 1910 and is now owned by the National Trust.

Wort is from the Old English wyrt, roughly meaning any plant that is a useful herb or vegetable. The name St John's Wort is first recorded in the 1400s; it begins flowering around the summer solstice in late June, and June 24th is the feast of St John the Baptist. It is also known as Rose of Sharon.

St John's Wort has been used medicinally for thousands of years: the Roman army was using it in the first century, and the groundbreaking Swiss German physician Paracelsus was a big fan, recommending it in 1525 as a cure for depression, melancholy and over-excitation.