Sun Valley Group: American-Grown Hypericum

Sun Valley is growing the versatile and oft-used botanical, Hypericum. Before my humble beginnings here on the farm, I had never heard of this plant, much less seen it out and about.  But now that I've grown wise to the ways of the flower, I see the unique berries of this plant EVERYWHERE.

This ornamental superstar features colorful berries on a compact shrub.  The plant itself is a perennial botanical, sprouting golden blooms in the spring, which fall off to reveal elliptical berries come late summer.  We plant hypericum outdoors in fields of dark, rich soil, and let the long, warm days of summer coax it to maturity.  In Arcata,  it is very much a seasonal crop–we harvest the stems at the end of summer and fall, pruning while we pick, allowing the plant to rest and re-gather nutrients for the following season.

However, at our Oxnard location, we harvest hypericum throughout the year.  The Southern California climate, with its consistently longer and warmer days, creates the ideal growing conditions for year-round hypericum cultivation.  

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk