Wow! Great tree! It looks like the one at a nursery that used to be in business in Cedar Hill. Mine is blooming, but very thin and has been for the past few years.

Your tree is gorgeous! Mine is only about a third of that size, still looking more like a big shrub than a tree. I've never been able to keep a butterfly bush alive here, and my Milk & Wine Crinums have already bloomed. I hope they put off another set of stalks. They're my favorite.

Queenb, here's some hope that it won't be long. Carrie said that tree started out from a four inch pot only four or five years ago.

Wow! The Vitex is fabulous! Everything is very pretty. I don't think I've ever seen a Buddleia that color.

Jim

Mine is about 7 years old. Nothing seems to grow fast here. At my other house, it would have taken over the neighborhood by now. :/

What a gorgeous tree! I've seen several around the Austin area and wondered what the name was. Seems to be a very fast grower.

Thanks for posting roselee. ;o)

Just gorgeous! That vitex has an amazingly thick trunk for such a young plant! Must be Carrie's green thumb at work!

OR.............the bed it was planted in. It is in a bed that gets a lot of water, and run off from the fertilizer that I give the brugs. Whatever the reason, I feel very blessed to be able to look at it each day.
Thanks, everyone, for you commments.........nothing pleases a gardener like apppreciation from fellow gardeners!!

Carrie, what camera do you use? I'm impressed with the good photos you get in bright sun.

Roselee, it is a little "point and shoot" Super Steady Shot Sony. I have to have something simple, and have been very pleased with this camera that is several years old now.

My cyber shot sony took much better pictures than the kodak I now have.

Beautiful, Carrie! Yikes, I have two planted in my new flowerbed, told Jerry they only get about 10' tall; oh well, hopefully they won't get TOO big!

Your garden shows the hard work you put into it, and I admire you so!

Thanks, Sheryll, and it wouldn't be a bad thing if your Vitex got big..........just put a shade garden under it.

Gorgeous..you enabled me, I see the vitex tree in my neighbourhood and always wondered what it was. The crinum looks great. Thnx for sharing.

Carrie, your tree is beautiful! Obviously you've made it very happy. : )

Thanks, guys, and yes, Lou, it seems to be VERY happy. It has a twin on the other side of it......had no idea they would grow this big when I put them in this bed from a four inch pot. Not complaning, mind you !!!!

Carrie. is this the twin tree? I didn't post it because I thought it was a slightly different angle of the same tree.

It is, Roselee, I did not take pics of the other tree, but will try to do so today. The small one that is visible in the lower left hand corner is to accomodate the shade garden I had there and I lost a globe willow from that spot. The plants adapted nicely as they were already shaded from the hot afternoon sun, but the Vitex will soon give them only dappled sun in the morning. Trees are wonderful even if they are messy.

Carrie, do you have suckers with your vitex?

No, just lots of seedlings.

Wow! Now I am sure I want a Vitex....but only one.
How old is this tree?

Cynthia, these two are six or seven years old.............. I got them at a plant swap and I have been going to those only since 2006. They were in four inch pots and grew rather quickly................so shaping them into a tree is a pretty steady job, but worth it. I have seedlings already in containers if you are interested.

Thanks Carrie
I am in a hurry to get something growing there fast. Going for the 3 gallon I spied the other day. It is definitely shrubby. Should I cut back already or allow it to bush out and grow to a certain size? thank you!
c

I am no expert on that.................. I just trimmed the "little ole lady" way................whenever there was a limb in my way, I cut it off. I am still doing that to these two trees and they don't seem to mind one bit.

Great! I can do that. Doing it on my Sweet Autumn Verbena which I may turn into a tree soon. I had no idea it would get this big. c

Cynthia, my three Sweet Almond Verbena bushes are getting to be pretty good size trees also. The one that gets water from the other plants that are watered around it is always in bloom. I'm also using the 'Carrie method' to trim them ... :-)

I'm super glad to hear that Vitex trees grow so fast. I planted two this year, one white and one purple flowered. I've never seen for sale the beautiful varigated and purple leafed varieties shown in the link below. Have any of you?

Here is a link that might be useful: Scroll down to see several varieties of Vitex in Linda Collins' Rockport garden ...

I scrolled down to the comments on the link above and see that Jim ID'd the Tricolor vitex as a variety called 'Arabian lilac'; which brings up a question. Do the Vitex blooms have a scent?

I don't feel like going out to smell the blooms. But the leaves have an herbal scent. We had them around the front porch when I was growing up in the valley. Before A/C things would get musty in drawers and linen cabinets. Mother would put the leaves in there.

Hummers love them.

I did go out to smell the blooms, and mine have no fragrance............only the leaves. My daughter loves them because the deer do not like the aroma and she can even plant other things around them

Thanks Kathy and Carrie. Sounds like I need to go out and smell the leaves!