Are you aware of how big these get? I can't answer your question but this would be the time to reconsider and move it, especially since its not very robust. The one in the last picture looks very close to the house.

Fast growth, 20ft with an equal spread. As far as I know, there are no cultivars bred for smaller size.

I agree with texasranger2. Our vitex is planted 10' from our sunroom, which is the back wall of our house, and it gets too close to that wall for my taste in a wet year when it makes lots of really lush growth. While we think of them as trees. they really grow more like shrubs and often get twice as wide as they are tall. I feel like yours in the second photo is going to be a constant problem as you'll have to hack it back to almost nothing several times a year to keep it from rubbing against the house.

As far as what is wrong with yours. what month were they planted and what has the rainfall been like since then? Do you have soil that drains at least moderately well? Have they been kept well-watered since being transplanted?

It's called a Texas Lilac, that is a bit misleading because its nothing like a lilac shrub. The ones at our church are easily much taller than 20ft although for the first few years they fit the space, originally a very wide, mixed planting border along the west side and they had graceful thin trunks, about crepe myrtle sized. They are now tall monsters that tower taller than the outside wall creating deep shade & completely hiding the west side + the windows except where you can see through the massive trunks. The trunks are like tree trunks, they look good but they are all that is growing there now. They are much more like trees than shrubs.

I have never had one but they look like they might get a little out of hand if nit give LOTS of room. That thing looks massive.

Hi All. I planted the new ones the beginning of October. Not much rain, but I water fairly regularly. Good draining soil. My concern is that the spots were not on the leaves and they weren't dried out on the Thursday I bought them but they were there on the Saturday I planted them, just 2 days later. Regarding the size of the one near the house, I have read that you can just keep chopping at them and make them fit your space. If this isn't true, then I need to move it. I read you can chop them to the ground each Spring. Yes? No? I don't want to hurt my house!

Texasranger, We have a neighbor up the road with a vitex that is several decades old. It is huge and towers over the house. I've never had one get that tall but mine spread out incredibly wide and that is what I mean by comparing them to shrubs----the way that widen out down low to the ground. I had a friend who tried for several years to prune hers to tree form with only 1 main trunk but it defied her efforts until she gave up and let it win.

nowyousedum, Often that sort of spotting is just an indication that a plant got too dry at some point and didn't have enough moisturein the foliage to sustain it. It is likely the plants got too dry while still in pots a the retailer. This late in the season, I wouldn't worry about it. Your vitex will lose their leaves soon anyway as autumn deepens.

You can cut them off right at the ground and they will resprout, but they are fast growers and you are not going to keep one a manageable size close to your house unless you are cutting it back to the ground every few months, which seems to defeat the purpose of growing them in the first place. They love to grow and, if you cut them off at the ground, you get many many new shoots coming up, not just one main trunk. I had to prune mine like crazy the first decade to keep it from taking over the whole world, but nowadays it is held in check a bit by shade from nearby oaks (the oaks weren't there when I planted the vitex) and by a pronounced lack of moisture in the drought spells.

Well, my neighbor already thinks I'm nuts because I'm always adding, changing, moving or removing plants. I have 2 lace bark elms, 1 desert willow, 1 jane magnolia and 3 vitex in my front yard. I have a friend I can give a vitex to, maybe. I planted a butterfly bush there not long after I moved here. It didn't last. I really don't care for spirea. I'll go ahead and remove the one near the house. I really appreciate all the advice!

We have some baby Vitex that I planted in one hole (4 plants) I need to separate them. I really didn't think they would all live.

Should I try transplanting them now or wait till spring. They were about 4" when I planted them this spring now the are 3' tall. Wow fast growers.

thanks

I'd transplant them after they go dormant for the winter and after it cools off a little tiny bit more than it has now. My vitex is still fully leafed out and in bloom. You're further north so maybe yours isn't still leafed out? If it is still warm enough that they are actively growing and your transplant them, there's a chance they will be stimulated to put out new growth that then will freeze up when your first freeze of the season arrives because the new growth won't be hardened off to colder temperatures. If you wait until after they are dormant, you shouldn't get a lot of new growth that would freeze. The world won't end if you move them now though. And, if you think they grew fast this year, just wait another year or two. You'll be astonished at how quickly they get both tall and wide.

Do they do well in unimproved clay ? I would like to,try on by the donkey barn.

I live in SW OKC. Obviously, I have too many Chaste Trees. Let me know if you want one. Free to good home!

We've had really warm days here. No freeze yet.

They still have all their leaves.

Thanks Dawn.

stockergal, Mine has done fine in dense, red, compacted, unimproved clay. Down in Texas, in similar circumstances and similar soils, you often see them planted in horrible soil in highway medians and they thrive there, even through the drought periods, with no irrigation. They are very tough trees.

sorie, You're welcome.

Dawn

OKC is planting them like crazy along highways and street medians. They look great baking in the hot sun day after day and seem to be a perfect plant for using around here in situations that need tough plants that don't get watered. They are replacing a lot of (gag me) Bradford Pears. Much better choice.

Can your get them locally or do you order on line? Thanks, I will try a couple.

I have three vitex on my lot. Granted, I have a tiny house on a regular sized lot :) I planted one in my front yard. It has gotten to be (small) tree sized. It really is almost too close to the house because there is a walkway for the mailman between my house and the neighbor's and the tree branches hang over. I have to cut those back every year. I loved that one so much, I added two more in my back yard.

Here's a pic from '07. I hadn't trimmed it up recently (or probably at all) at that point. This might give you an idea of what everyone is telling you :)

This is the same tree in 2014. Not the greatest pic, but it will give you a size comparison. It looks like I had trimmed on it quite a bit at that point!

and *sigh*. I wish my gardens always looked that lush and pretty!

stockergal, Down here they are in every big box store nursery/garden center in the spring....Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's, for example, and in nurseries as well. Maybe not until May or late April, and I usually see them in the stores until at least the end of June. I used to see them (say, a decade ago) only in full-line nurseries, but now they are everywhere. I think repetitive drought has made them more popular as people realize how drought-tolerant they are. I imagine they are just as easy to find in OKC as they are in southern OK/north central TX but I'm just guessing.

Lisa, Your gardens always do look lush and pretty and you know it! It is just that in some years, we have to relax our definition of "lush" a little bit because the lack of moisture just doesn't let plants get as lush as usual. Who ever would have thought such a prolonged dry spell would follow all that spring flooding this year? Luckily, we gardeners always know that (c'mon y'all, say it with me) "Next year will be better".

Dawn

I'm thinking a Vitex or two on the south end of our yard might be a nice way to "hide" the neighbors. Good to know they get this big.

hahha, I don't take any pictures after June! Actually that one in 2014 was July I think, but it was a nice rainy year.

That vitex in my front yard, I bought at a nursery. It's no longer in business. The two in the back, I bought one at a nursery and paid a pretty fancy price for it, stopped by Home Depot on the way home and found the other one for 1/2 the price. I bought it immediately!

For anyone who lives in OKC, the greenbelt on Grand Blvd running through Nichols HIlls has some very mature Vitex. Cassady School does as well.