Vitex , a bombastic deciduous bush , grow 15 feet tall and 15 feet spacious . It thrives in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 to 11 , and prefers well - drain soil . Vitex , also known as Chastetree , does not turn well in a wet or boggy location . Although the leaves bring forth no fall color , they have an attractive blue - fleeceable feel during the summertime . Vitex produces magniloquent spikes of violet or lavender blossom during the turn season on new wood . To advance more flower , the bush is often lop several times a year after each bloom catamenia before seed begin to form . If the blooms are allowed to go to seed , the plants will spend vigor have seed rather than new efflorescence .
Step 1
snip your Vitex in previous wintertime or very former springiness when the weather is beginning to warm . If you prune the Vitex in the dead of winter , the Vitex may lose moisture from the pruning wound and freeze to death if there is a backbreaking freeze .
Step 2
make up one’s mind how you would like the Vitex to grow . If the Vitex has a strong primal leader growing from the middle , it can be shape into a small tree . If it has several branches get along from a low point near the priming coat , it can be train as a large shrub .
Step 3
Locate the foresightful branches first that require to be removed and ignore them back to a main root word or trunk . This helps the Vitex retain a natural shape rather than trying to shear it all back to the same level . Keep site the longest branches and abridge them back to a main stem until the correct stature and width is desired . The outgrowth you remove will get smaller as you do work .
Step 4
Trim off all old efflorescence and come head by cutting at least 2 to 3 inches below each source head teacher . Cut back to a point 1/4 inch above a leaf node . A leaf node is the swollen area located on the stem from where the leaf grow . Cut all the old blooming back to a grade where the plant is equally pruned and has an attractive shape .
Step 5
Wait until all summertime peak have faded before deadheading , or trim the sure-enough blooms off , to encourage another bloom period on the fresh Sir Henry Joseph Wood . The following wintertime or spring , prune the Vitex as require to retain shape and repeat the deadheading process in the summer to produce more bloom .
