Hypericum kalmianum Cobalt-n-Gold™ (Kalm St. Johnswort)
Colbalt-n-Gold Kalm St. Johnswort is a small, cheerful, decorative shrub.
The small flowers cover the shrub in June and look good on top of the gray-green leaves.
Everything about this plant is pretty - the small stature, the button-like flowers (albeit the showy yellow stamens would make them spiky awkward buttons), and the petite leaves.
Colbalt-n-Gold likes to spread wider than it grows high and we like to plant groups (in groups of odd numbers) or tuck in empty spaces one-at-a-time. It looks proper at the base of taller, leggier shrubs and it look like it belongs mixed in with perennials. It's like one of those kids who can talk to anybody in the class or a person of any age - they're not pigeonholed in one social group - a quality I admire.
- small native shrub for sunny, dryish locations
- bright yellow flowers, yes, that's nice for 2-3 weeks, but the gray-green foliage looks great throughout the growing season
- that leaf color, plus the small leaf texture, contrast in a border or foundation planting where so many other plants have broad, green leaves
- Spring: blue-green
- Summer: blue-green
- Fall: yellow, orange, red
No, this isn't the medicinal species, that's Hypericum perforatum and is an herbaceous perennial, while Kalm St. Johnswort is a woody shrub.