Gemo St. John's Wort

Hundreds of bright yellow star-shaped flowers with prominent stamens cover this shrub from July until frost, at a point in summer when most flowering shrubs have finished. Hypericum kalmianum Gemo is a selection of a native shrub, growing 2 to 3 feet tall and wide in full sun, hardy from Zone 4 through Zone 9. The foliage is fine-textured and blue-green, giving the plant a light look through the season, and it holds a rounded shape without pruning. Bees work the flowers heavily through the long bloom, and this species is a specialist host for several native bees that collect its pollen and little else. Kalm's St. John's wort grows wild on limestone shores and rocky ground around the Great Lakes, so it wants full sun and well-drained soil and handles drought and poor ground once established. Deer leave it alone.