PlantFiles: Vitex, Chaste Tree, Lilac Chaste Tree, Monk's Pepper
Vitex agnus-castus

My family lived in Brooksville, Fl. which is about 50 miles north of Tampa. We had Vitex plants at our home there. When we moved we made the mistake of not taking them with us. It has been five years and I finally found a source to get the seeds. This is a beautiful plant and if you collect the seeds are fairly easy to start your own plants. My husband likes to have bee hives and the bees love these plants. They also make good honey.

I live in Ocala, FL and this chaste tree is an amazing plant. I had one when I lived on Hayesville, NC and it did amazing as well. 5 years later the plant is 8-9 feet tall 5-7 feet wide. Great plant!

I love my vitex and have been extremely pleased overall... but I'm trying to find out why one of my five trees is yellowing. I don't know if it's over/under-watered, wrong pH, diseased, or what. Can anyone help me?

I love these trees. I live in Sunset, Texas. It is hot, hot, hot but my vitex is always pretty.
I have a lot of deer and they have never bothered my vitex. I planted one inside the fence, one outside. I tend to forget to water the one outside the fence, but it does fine.
I just got a pink one, I want to find out if it behaves the same as the violet ones.

A row of these lovely small trees is growing in the median on NW Expressway between NW Classen and Pennsylvania Avenue here in OKC. I love them and so do the many people who come into the nursery to find out what they are. They grow well in the same conditions as crepe myrtle and rose of sharon and are lovely planted along driveways and fence rows. After years of lusting after them, I'm planning to plant mine as a feature tree smack dab in the middle of the backyard. I'll surround it with rosemary, lavendar, and drought hardy, near-native perennials that the bees and butterflies love, such as cone flowers, tick seed, autumn sage, etc.

Vitex was a beautiful and large tree in front of my home and I guess I took it for granted. Other than removing new sprouts from the bark in the spring and photographing it sometimes (it even had great bones in the winter and looked wonderful with a dusting of the rare snowstorms) I paid it no heed. Apparently it needs little care. Since losing it in the April 27th tornado last year I've really missed it. I have started a new one....just can't even imagine how many years it will take to get to be a huge tree.

I grew this wonderful shrub in Stephenville, TX when I lived there. It was such a delight all summer with its nice foliage and lavender bloom spikes covering the plant. It attracted butterflies and lots of cute bumblebees that I loved to watch working the blossoms.
When I moved to Rolla, MO I wanted to try growing vitex here and had to special order two plants from the local nursery. They are thriving here despite the snowy winters and clay soil.
This is one tough, trouble-free, and drought resistant (once established) plant that I highly recommend.

I ordered some seeds. I hope they grow well down here.

This tree came up in our yard. At first I thought it was pretty and left it. But as it grew and needed pruning the sap caused rashes when pruned. It started coming up all over the place and the scent was so bad it gave us allergy headaches so we removed it. There are nicer, less stinky shrubs that are pretty and attract butterflies with none of those concerns.

Vitex has been wonderful! I have two of them and they are doing well. They have added color and brought lots of butterflies and bees.

I have read all the wonderful comments on how butterflies, and bees love this plant, but what I need to know is do deer, and elk like it ? Or can I plant it outside my fence where they are all the time? Thanks, countryroads

We have not grown this plant ourselves but did come across it here in Muskegon Michigan. The plant was 5ft high and about 5 ft wide, the bush was edging by surrounding trees and other plants, but was growing rather nicely with good bloom (which is what got our eye) it seemed to be receiving about 6 hours of sun. The owner of the plant did not know the name of it, we had to do a little research, we are going to buy one and try our luck here in ZONE 5.

Vitex is an easy plant to grow in this area. Mine is about 15 feet tall and blooms through a good protion of the summer. I don't have it in the best location as it is being crowded a bit by some evergreens that I am going to remove. This plant thrives on neglect and never flinches in droughts or heat waves. For someone looking for a large bush or small tree to give some needed summer color this is a great and undemanding plant.

Grows beautifully in our desert.
We planted them in full sun with no protection from the wind.
They start blooming in May and continue to bloom into October.
We water once a week in the Spring, and daily when the temperatures reach 90 degrees.
We rarely water them in the winter.
This is a wonderful tree, and the bees love them.

Attractive, tough, adaptable. Here it occasionally gets tricked by late frosts (as it was this spring, with tender new growth damaged by a freeze), but so do some of the native plants. I find the seeds insipid, at least the ones from my shrub, but I suppose they could be used as a substitute for pepper if one were really desperate for one. Some years I get several flushes of bloom over the growing season. It really seems to thrive in this climate, seasonal droughts, high humidity, low humidity, sudden frosts after weeks of warmth, the whole gamut.

i've had this bush/tree for about 7-8yrs. and am very impressed each summer when it blooms. It's a prodigious bloomer, with spires of dark lavender blooms. If the faded blooms are removed, often later in the Summer/early Fall, another round of blooms can occur. It is planted in full sun and I seldomly give it supplemental watering. Each Spring, I give it Miracle-Grow feeding of 1TBSP per gallon of water. I've never seen a need for more. For me, it has proven to be drought-tolerant. It attracts bumble bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.

I planted this shrub about five years ago to replace an ageing lilac. In that time it has grown from a small one foot high plant into a sprawling 12 foot high and nearly as wide giant. Great screen for my back porch! There is only minimal winter dieback, and it more than makes up for it each summer with 2 feet of new growth. The flowers are great at a time when the spring flowers have finished and only my annuals are blooming. I'm very happy with this shrub.

I received seeds last summer and just for the experiment grew them out and planted them in my Zone 5a garden. I planted them all in different areas of the yard, even put one in a raised bed.

This spring I was amazed to find they all survived our winter!!
Winter lows reached -32C (-26F)

Can't wait for them to get old enough to bloom!!

Grows very nicely here, flowers on and off from spring until fall. Produces many berries, but haven't seen any self-seeding yet.

The Vitex is surviving the 3-week, 100 degree heat/drought here in Middle TN, and blooming. I hardly ever water it. I bought it last year for $2 at Lowe's clearance.

I love its vigorous, rounded shape and aroma.

Vitex is showy when flowering, even if it doesn't last long. It is a tough plant that will last many years. The only downside is it attracts lots of bees, so if you or a family member is allergic I wouldn't recommend it.

We have had this tree for 5 years. It blooms in late July thru early fall. We are in zone 6 (MA) and never have had serious die back - just some of the branches. It is grown in an the open area and gets some shade and has no protection from winds. It is beautiful in bloom but is very, very late to leaf out. I know of 5 other Vitex in the area and they all survive our winters which can get and stay below 0* for days. I have seen 2 cut to the ground and come back even more beautiful.

My poor Vitex is underneath vines and still a couple of branches are peeking out to get some sun. I'm going to get out there to save it.

25 states!

Vitex, Chaste Tree, Lilac Chaste Tree, Monk's Pepper Vitex agnus-castus is Naturalized in Texas and other States and is considered an invasive plant in Texas.

this is my first year for this tree. i bought 6 of them online from an herb supplier this spring; they were small plants that i kept potted until two months ago. since putting them in ground, they are growing like weeds and blooming. i know they can take drought, but the one i planted by the birdbath is 5' tall already, so it likes the extra water. has anyone experienced hornworms on theirs? i pulled 3 of the nasty buggers off of one tree today. nothing on the others, but they totally stripped the one tree. i'm sure it will live, i just didn't realize they ate plants in the verbena family.

I love Vitex. Very drought tolerant, and such a nice smell. Vivid periwinkle (or sometimes bright pink or white) flowers that the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds flock to. I basically treat it like a crepe myrtle; it can either be allowed to grow as a bush or be shaped as a single or multitrunked smallish-medium tree. Or as someone else mentioned, it can also be whacked down to ground level each year and will resprout.

This plant is a lot tougher than given credit for. I have grown mine for the last three years, and it has survived the unpredictable Chicago winters with no problems. No dieback for me was evident; I do have it planted on a warm, south wall. It also survived being dug and moved to Indiana last year, withstanding a terrible drought and high temperatures.

Chaste tree thrives here in Alabama. It is very tough, withstanding heat, humidity, and neglect. Another great thing is fast growth and spectacular flowers. The leaves have a spicy scent. It can get quite large with and there are a number of old specimens in my area.

I live in Denver Colorado.My wife and i picked up two of these plants at our local garden center,the only two they had,We have had them for only one month,so far so good.Will keep informed on there progress.If any one else in a zone 5 has tryed these plants id love to hear from you.

Last year we planted a long row of chaste trees and we love it. Lots of bee and butterfly action. Not much known about it in this area, but I notice people are waking up to this interesting plant. Noticed in Uvalde paper that the local gardening club had a speaker on "chaste trees." We're looking forward to this wonderful screen from the road. Will either leave them alone or trim bottoms to encourage them to grow into trees. My shrub is primarily 4-5 feet tall.

Vitex as an herbal remedy works for me! In a sense, it gave me my life back.

Overwinters well in Hagerstown MD.
Bushes ~10 ft tall have light blue flowers with shallow cup
which makes excellent bee forage. The dark purple variety has too deep a cup for bees to work. Bloom is late summer when bee forage is scarce and the bushes are covered with bees. Habit straggles more than a lilac. Have started overwintered seeds in plastic paper cups, slow germination.

Here in Zone 6 the Vitex sometimes dies down to the ground. This year it did not have any dieback at all. It is one of the very last shrubs to leaf out in spring. Mine is about 5 feet tall now, and 4 feet across. I got it on clearance at Walmart about 4 years ago. Bees and butterflies love it!

Vitex is a wonderful tree simply because of its beauty! Here in hot and humid New Orleans it's planted around government buildings and in neutral grounds instead of lilacs, for which it is often mistaken.
Not only is vitex great as an ornamental, but it's also a useful herb. The leaves and blossoms create a slightly sour tea that sooths menstrual and PMS symptoms and consuming the berries promotes a healthy cycle. Men, however, should avoid consuming the plant in any way, as it may lower libido and possibly promote impotence because of the naturally-occuring estrogen-like hormones produced by the plant.

Vitex grows extremely well in Las Vegas, where summer temperatures often exceed 110F. They like full sun here, and don't require much water.

Vitex, while not native to Texas, thrives here in our hellishly hot summers and mild (with occasional ice storms) winters. In Austin (zone 8b, ~22" precip./year) the Highway Department plants it along IH-35 and no one but God waters it. For some bizarre reason, the landscrapers randomly take a chainsaw to it at ground level -- it promptly returns from dozens of vigorous basal shoots. I have not noticed it spreading noxiously from seed or suckers.

With some difficulty, I have grown it from seed. In a batch of seedlings (~30), several plants produced vaguely pink and white blossoms -- in addition to the usual mauve to deep violet, from the same parent plant. Racemes (floral clusters) on mine usually grow to 8-10". Some cultivars (name unknown) seen in commercial plantings produce intense violet blossoms in racemes about 18" long. The leaves bear a striking resemblance to marijuana and emit an enchanting spicy fragrance when touched.

My experience with this plant has been as an extract in pill form, for menstrual cramps. Suffice to say, this plant is indeed fabulous for reducing pain from cramping but I do not know what dosage every woman in particular may need. It probably varies and I'm sure harm could come if one takes too much.

I have found this tree to be very beautiful when it blooms, providing a breath-taking sea of bright blue/purple-ish flowers, and in the Fall with unusual seed-heads and purple-tinted foliage. It's drought-tolerant and doesn't even flinch in 115*(F) heat spells!

It doesnt like having its roots messed with, so be careful about cultivating around it. I keep a thick layer of wood bark mulch around it to keep the weeds away. All in all this plant is great and it takes very little care to keep it happy.