Verbena Flower Plant Care
Verbena Plants – How to Grow and Care for Verbenas
Verbena flowers will offer attraction and a great look to your summer garden. This is a flowering plant that you can depend on for long lasting blooms and they perform very well during the hottest summer months. These plants thrive in the direct sunlit areas of your garden, and no matter if you are planting the annual or the perennial Verbenas, consider to use them as your summer flowering plants.
About Verbena
The Verbena flowering plants are ideal to be used in summer gardens. It is a spreading plant and therefore can suit cascading gardens or cascade over retaining walls, baskets, pots and window boxes. These plants are drought tolerant and therefore are perfect for rock gardens, hanging baskets as well. They can grow up to a height from 6 inches to 3 feet and are about 12 to 20 inches wide, depending on the type and variety of the plant. The Verbena plants bloom seasonally and just like the flowering daylilies you have summer bloom as well as autumn bloom plants.
How to Grow Verbenas?
Verbena plants tolerate high heat and summer temperatures and hence are drought resistant. They can grow well during their active period when they are given plenty of water. It requires about 8 to 10 hours of full sunshine and must be grown in well-lit areas. In the hottest regions, it is better to grow them in partial shade areas. It requires well-drained soil to thrive and is not tolerant of soggy and poor soil. They will grow and flower well if the soil is mixed with peat moss, compost, and organic materials. The plant has to be watered regularly till it gets established in the new soil. After that, you need to water the plant only when the soil goes dry. Feed the plant with a very good, all-purpose liquid fertiliser during the spring time.
Propagating Verbenas
The Verbena plants can be grown from the seeds. The seeds need to be grown in the dark as it required darkness during germination. Make sure that the seeds are completely covered to help in germination. The seeds can be sown in the garden directly and this has to be sown only during the autumn or early spring. You should cover the seed bed with black plastic to ensure complete darkness. It will take at least 20 to 30 days for the seeds to germinate. The creeping varieties of Verbena can be easily propagated through layering. You can make more Verbena plants from stem cuttings. The established plants can be divided during the winter period or early spring.
Caring for Verbena
- The blooms of the Verbena can be improved by regular watering of the plant during its growing period. Make sure that the plant gets an inch of water over its soil. Water the plant at its base only.
- If planted in proper growing conditions, the Verbenas start to bloom in the first season itself. The blooms can be continued if you trim back the plant.
- If the blooms slow down, then trim the plant to one-fourth its size for the new branches to develop.
- You can see it bloom again in three weeks time. Fertilise the plant lightly when you are trimming it to 1/4th its size.
