Make sure you have the correct type of St. John's - Hypericum perforatum. There are ornamental cultivars that don't have the same medicinal quality. Generally, the tops of the flowering plants are picked at full bloom. When you pick, your fingers will turn purple or red from the oils. I suggest you find a good herbalist or other health care practitioner to help you with your anxiety. Tinctures are often the way this herb is dispensed. The standardization you refer to has been shown to be inaccurate. At first, it was thought that St. J should have 0.3% hypericum and many jumped on that bandwagon. Then, it was thought it was hyperiflouricin that was the active ingredient. Now, many are coming to realize what herbalists have said all along, there are many chemical constituents in whole plant extracts and we just don't know which ones to test for yet. Use the whole plant (good tincture) to get the full range of benefit and all the synergistic qualities. Good luck.

I think early spring would be best, but after flowering would be second choice. We got a bunch of them donated for the GNPS sale and I had to whack them back hard. They responded well to that (Feb/Mar). The bark is very nice; this plant needs more exposure in the public. Maybe if I give bobbygil a small one he will upgrade my sandwich to a combo.

Ginseng: Seeds need to be stratified. After collecting the fruit in autumn, dig a hole in a well-drained, shady area about 30cm deep and 1 metre wide. Line the sides and bottom with rocks or bricks. Line the bottom with 2cm sand, then 2cm of seeds, then another layer of sand. Repeat layers as required, ending with sand, and cover the whole with a sheet of plywood. Leave for up to 18 months, but at least 90 days, keeping them cold and moist. Plant seeds or roots in autumn or winter. Plant them about 5-10mm deep, and cover with leaf mulch about 2cm thick. Do not allow the seeds to dry out. Germination may take a year or more. Plant produces seed when the plant has grown 2 prongs (or leaves), at about 3-4 years. The plant will add a third prong when 5-9 years old. Grows best in cool, shaded hardwood forests. The plant lies dormant for some years and does not grow new tops every year. One-year-old plants have 3 leaflets, resembling a strawberry plant. In the second year it usually has 5 leaflets, and in the following years it begins to branch out with 2, 3 or 4 prongs with 3-5 leaflets in each prong. Prefers a soil with pH 5.0-6.5. St. John's Wort: Propagate by seed sown in spring in a sandy medium, runners in autumn, softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer, or division in spring. Ideal temperature for seeds is 20C, and germination is slow. Seeds should be just barely covered. They are slow and irregular to germination and may take from 30-90 days. Water seeds once or twice a day until they germinate, then transplant to the garden. Will grow in most well-drained soils and full sun or dappled shade. Succeeds in dry soils. It is a short-lived plant, although it can grow rapidly, and should be replaced every 5-6 years. Rarely needs pruning, but deadwood should be removed in spring if necessary. NB. St. John's Wort is a declared noxious weeds in many areas. Check with your local authorities to see if you aren't breaking any laws by growing it.

I've got a plant growing on our property that I have been unable to identify but sounds like Hypericum Perforatum. It runs rampant in open, sunny dry areas. I've pulled and dug out the plants whenever I see one. The plants are about 18 to 24 inches tall, have opposite leaves, branch freely from the leaf bases, and yellow flowers. I do not recall how many petals the flowers have but I'm thinking a flower has 4 or 5 petals. I also do not recall the flower as having long stamens that some pictures of St. John's Wort show. Since it's still winter here, I don't have the plant right in front of me. I did a google search on the plant and pictures of it look like my weed. However, I could not find a complete description of Hypericum Perforatum. The plant on our property has a tap root, about 6 inches long on well established plants. After the flowers fade, the seed pods are round and sticky. Actually, the whole plant is somewhat sticky by which I mean when I pull up an established plant, my hands get coated with a viscous substance. If I mow the plant, the stems left in the ground are woody and hurt to walk on. The plant survives quite well after being mowed. Do you think this is St. Johns Wort? TillerBee