The Vitex saga

In a previous post I featured the vitex. When we moved into our new home in midtown we wanted to plant a vitex, but there was no room in our yard because of the pecan. In the street in front of our house we have a median strip about two feet wide, so we thought we could plant there. Our neighbor is the horticulturalist for the city and she said we could plant the tree in the median if we took care of it. 

You can see the median in this link for Chinese pistache. We went forward and bought a small vitex near Halloween 2016. I know this because a neighbor had a Halloween party where we invited some of the guests to come visit the newly planted tree and pour a libation of Jamaican rum on the tree in celebration. The rum story came from a cruise with a side trip to a Jamaican plantation. Our guide told us that the native people would offer a gift to a large tree when it was cut down. A sort of libation of rum to the tree god. We and a few friends made the libation taking a few sips for ourselves. The vitex prospered. 

Seven months later (mid June 2017) the new tree was well established and sending up pale green flowers. I was anticipating the purple blooms, while watering the small shrub with a water can. The vitex was protected by three iron stakes about four feet high to keep mowers from buzzing it. Certainly the three poles would ward off weed eaters used by the Blight Patrol to clean up the median after the daffodils were finished. I underestimated the vigilance of the Blight Patrol. They destroyed the vitex down to the roots. 

The withered devastated vitex inbetween the protective poles. June 12, 2017

 

The greenish flowers are leaning over the pole and the leaves are still green. RIP

The view was infuriating. What person could not tell this was a protected plant and not a weed? Seven months growth wiped out by a zealous weed-eating Blight Patroller. The bare trunk had been so whipped by the weed eater there was no bark left on it. It was not going to grow back. 

The only thing to do was to get another vitex. The first one was from Midtown Nursery at Madison and McClean.  I went back and they had one left. It was a little yellow. The owner said it was root bound, too long in the pot. In fact, this was probably the sister to the vitex I got at Halloween last year. I planted it in the same spot. The old trunk was actually very hard to pull out of the ground. It was very firmly rooted in the ground. This time I placed some hardware cloth around the base to keep any weed eaters away. 

Vitex II. The vitex is dead. Long live the vitex. June 17, 2017

This plant has one purple flower spike in the center. I called over my horticulturalist neighbor and her husband. We poured a little Jamaican rum on the new vitex and had a sip for ourselves. Next year we will see if the hardware cloth keeps it safe from the Blight Patrol. The roots should now spread out and the leaves should get their healthy green sheen back.