Your garden will love the low-maintenance Texas lilac tree, also known as Vitex or Chaste tree. It's drought-tolerant, loves the heat, looks beautiful and has a lovely fragrance. Pollinators love the blooms, which will help your vegetable and herb garden grow better.
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This plant is perfect for a LAZY garden in Texas because it is drought-tolerant, naturalized to Texas, doesn't require a lot of care, loves the heat, will survive our mild winter outdoors and is beautiful to look at.
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🌿 Why I love this plant
I love the Texas lilac tree in my Houston, Texas backyard because...
- I love the scent and look of lilac, but they don't grow well here. This plant is a great alternative to typical lilac.
- The purple blooms throughout the summer are really pretty.
- It will bring pollinators to the garden, which will help my vegetables and fruit grow better.
- It's low-maintenance, so just plant it and enjoy the view and fragrance!
☀️ Plant characteristics
Vitex, chaste tree or Texas lilac trees have characteristics that make it ideal for Texas gardens. For that reason, it's earned the rank of a Texas Superstar plant by Texas A&M.
| Botanical Name: | Vitex agnus-castus |
| Also Known As (Other Names): | Texas Lilac Tree, Texas Lilac Bush, Chaste Tree, Vitex, Mexican lavender, hemp tree, sage tree, monk's pepper, Indian spice |
| Plant Origin: | Native of China and India, but naturalized to Texas |
| Hardiness Zone: | 5b |
| Flower Color: | Purple |
| Foliage Type: | deciduous 🍂 |
| Mature Plant Height: | 15 feet |
| Spread: | 10 feet |
| Plant Form: | upright spreading |
| Light Requirements: | full sun ☀️ to partial shade 🌤 |
| Moisture Requirements: | dry / drought tolerant 🌵 to moist 💦 |
| Care Requirements: | hands off / ignore me and I'll be fine 💃🏻 |
| Cool Fact: | The flowers have a faint scent of lilac! |
Not sure what some of these gardening terms mean? Check out our glossary of easy to understand beginner-friendly definitions of plant terminology.
🌺 Features and attributes
Ornamental Features
Chase tree has purple flowers with a light scent, reminiscent of lilac and green foliage most of the year. It loses its leaves in winter. The leaves do not give off fall color. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.
Landscape Attributes
The Vitex tree has an upright spreading pattern of growth with many branches. It has a Austin/Central Texas vibe to it. It's good to use in an area of the garden that gets lots of sun, but be sure to give it plenty of space to grow, since it will spread to about 10 feet across as a large Texas lilac bush first, then grown upwards into a small tree.
Prune in late winter, when the threat of extreme cold/frost has passed, so in Houston, this would be around February or March.
🌱 Planting and growing
The Texas Lilac tree will grow to be about 15 feet high and about 10 feet across. It is somewhat "leggy" with its multiple branches, rather than one solid trunk. You can prune it to shape as you desire, though. It grows fairly fast and a healthy plant will last about 50 years.
This shrub/tree does best in full sun to partial shade conditions. You'll even see it growing along the freeway here. In summertime, look at the trees growing along the North 610 Loop near Shepherd and Yale St and you'll see Vitex growing and blooming.
It is tolerant of most soil conditions, dry to moist soil, pH levels. It also tolerates sand, salt and urban pollution, making it an incredibly good choice and low maintenance plant for Houston, Texas!
⭐️ Lazy gardener tips
- Buy Vitex when you're ready to plant it, because it grows fast. We purchase two Vitex plants and kept them in their pots for a few months. The roots grew through the bottom into the ground! If they are in pots, they also require more water, so best to plant them in the ground, so they can thrive.
- The best time to plant Vitex is in the spring or fall/autumn, but you can also plant it in the summer, if you're willing to water it as it gets established.
- This plant will attract pollinators, like bees and wasps, so don't plant it close to doors.
✂️ Equipment
- Shovel to dig hole for planting
- Pruning shears to prune in late winter, if desired
❓ FAQ
Texas lilac trees grow about 1 to 2 feet per year.
Yes. The Texas lilac can be pruned to look more like a bush, but as it grows, it will form a small tree shape, especially if pruned to remove the lower limbs to open up the leggy trunks.
Chaste trees grow at a medium to fast rate. It will grow about 13" to 24" inches in a year.
Lavender and lilac are two difference plants entirely. Their fragrance is difference, as well. Lavender is calming and somewhat smoky. Lilac is floral and bright. Lavender grows as a small plant or bush. Lilac grows in a larger bush with vines.
A Texas lilac tree will get to be about 15 feet high.
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