Verbena hybrid: growing from seeds, varieties, ideal

Cultivated by breeders "pigeon grass", or verbena, surprises with a variety of shapes and colors. This is ideal for decorating a garden, balcony, country house. Flower hats in combination with carved foliage look great in pots, flowerpots, in beds and alpine slides.

General information about the plant

Verbena is a wild plant in tropical and subtropical regions of the American continent. There are more than 200 species in the vervain family. For garden cultivation, landscape design, hybrid verbena is used. This is a group of perennial shrubs bred by breeders for ornamental cultivation.

Ampelnaya verbena vegetative variety Mix amazes with a variety of shades

The main features of verbena:

• pubescent tetrahedral shoots;
• carved leaves (grouped at the bottom, there are varieties with oblong, lanceolate, triangular, heart-shaped leaf blades);
• the buds are collected in dense caps, after flowering they form seed crusts;
• developed root system (depending on the height of the bush, it deepens into the soil by 15–

25 cm);

• high productivity (there are up to 12 peduncles on one plant);
• flowering duration (from mid-June to late September).

There are erect and creeping varieties. Nurseries often offer a mixture of flowers, in one package plants with red, blue, peach, blue inflorescences.

The height of the hybrids varies from 10 to 50 cm.

• ground cover creeping varieties with shoots up to 60 cm long;
• dwarf up to 15 cm tall, small flower caps;
• ampelous large-flowered, growing in flowerpots, pots, hanging baskets (distinguished by long flowering, decorate home winter gardens until deep winter);
• medium-sized with erect shoots up to 30 cm;
• tall, resistant to lodging.

By the way, well-branching varieties are called vegetative verbena. They are propagated by cuttings. Seed is usually called species with erect strong stems, elongated buds, forming large seed pods.

Use in garden design

Hybrid varieties, having a compact root system, get along well with other plants:

• cereal and bluegrass herbs;
• petunia;
• geranium;
• juniper and other conifers.

Creeping vereina

To decorate the site, varieties are traditionally used:

• "Ideal" is distinguished by early flowering, the color of the caps is cherry, pink, red, white, blue, lilac;
• "Star round dance" of all kinds of colors, the buds have a colored center (ampelous, drought-resistant verbena);
• "Carousel" is a medium-sized shrub that looks like a primrose (white, blue, purple, pink, red colors are presented, there are varieties with a colored eye);
• "Quirk" - tall verbena, forming a dense bush due to numerous lateral shoots.

The search for a variety is not limited to this list. Large-flowered "Etna", "Julia", "Cardinal" look gorgeous on the flower beds. For balconies choose the compact types "Crystal", "Dazler", "Amethyst".

Reproduction of a herb for open ground

Verbena is mainly propagated by seeds. If desired, a rare hybrid can be grown by cuttings. Each of the methods is worth considering in more detail.

Reproduction of verbena by seeds

The plant has a long growing season, if you immediately sow seeds in open ground in bad weather conditions, rainy summer, you will not wait for flowering. It is best to sow the seeds in advance at home or in a greenhouse. If you do this in the second decade of March, the verbena will release its buds in June.

There is one caveat: like all hybrids, verbena planted with seeds does not always inherit the best species characteristics. Wilds with a cone-shaped inflorescence can grow.

It is pointless to collect planting material on your own. It is better to purchase it in packages - this is a guarantee that the plant will delight you with lush caps.

Growing from cuttings

Cuttings will help to save your favorite variety until next spring. They are harvested in the fall before the onset of frost. Up to 6 leaves are left on each. After two to three days, roots grow in the water at the shoot. He's ready to land. The verbena is rooted in a mixture of peat and sand, deepened to the point of growth of the lower leaves. A powerful root system will form in a month. Buds will appear by the New Year. By the spring planting, the plants again separate the tops of the shoots from the wintering house.

Before cutting the cuttings, the tool is disinfected so as not to introduce a putrefactive infection. The youngest shoots are selected.

How to grow verbena seedlings

For planting seeds, choose a loose soil seasoned with humus and sand. He must be neutral. An all-purpose potting mix will do. Seed material is placed directly into an individual pot or a common planting container.

Small step-by-step instruction:

• the soil is leveled, slightly crushed;
• seeds are laid out on the surface of the earth, they are not crushed;
• well wet the surface from a spray or watering can with a fine-jet nozzle;
• you do not need to fill the seeds from above, the planting container is tightened with a film or covered with glass;
• harvested for germination in a warm place (the optimum temperature is + 25 ° C), lighting is optional (after two days the seeds will swell, hatch, descents appear after 6-7 days);
• the emerging shoots are exposed to the light, the recommended mode is + 15 ... + 17 ° С;
• a dive into individual containers is carried out after the appearance of the 4th leaf.

Sprinkler irrigation distributes water evenly. The spread seeds will remain in their place

Several nuances of growing:

• hybrid verbena bushes when grown from seeds will stretch less if the plant is illuminated with a diode lamp, extending the daylight hours to 14 hours;
• the seeds will sprout evenly if you hold them in a growth stimulant solution before laying them out;
• watering is needed moderate, root rot develops from stagnant water;
• 2 weeks before planting on the site, the seedlings are hardened: they are exposed in a cool place for several hours, the time interval is gradually increased.

Drainage is done in plastic glasses, the container is filled ¼ of the height with fine expanded clay or sand

Well-seasoned seedlings will not die with an unexpected nighttime cold snap to -3 ° C. Plants are transferred to open ground after return frosts, when night temperatures reach + 10 ° C. Landing is carried out by the "transshipment" method with preservation of the earthen lump. For verbena, choose well-lit areas of the garden with neutral loose soil. It is advisable to add wood ash, fluff or dolomite flour before planting at the rate of 1 glass per 1 m2.

Care, watering and feeding

The plant does not require constant care. It is enough to water the flower during dry periods. With an excess of moisture, fungal infections develop, with a shortage, when the earthy clod dries up, seed pods are actively formed, new buds are not laid. During the period of heavy rains, drainage or drainage is provided so that the water does not stagnate at the roots. Verbena will not grow in a flooded area.

Now about feeding. During the growth period, the bush needs nitrogen, when the buds are laid - other trace elements: potassium, calcium, phosphorus. Fertilizers are applied no more than once a month. With an excess of fertilizer, the plant is inhibited.

Treatment of beds

An important condition is regular weeding. Weeds are quickly woven into the root system of plants; it will not be possible to remove them without damaging the flower bush. For oxygen access, evaporation of excess moisture, loosening is needed.

By the way, peat will help to avoid the appearance of a crust on clay soils. It is poured in a layer up to 5 cm. It performs the function of mulch - retains moisture.

For cultivating the land, it is better to use paddle rippers, they damage the root system less.

Keeping verbena in the house in winter

The flower overwinters on a glazed loggia, insulated balcony or winter garden at temperatures up to + 15 ° C. It is advisable to plant bushes in containers for wintering before the cold weather. The stem is shortened to 10 cm. The earth must be regularly moistened so that the earth does not crack. In the dark, the plant is kept for a month at the very beginning of spring. After that, they take it out into the light, loosen it, feed it. By the onset of warm days, the bush will be ready to be transferred to the site. Cuttings are taken from overwintered hybrids for vegetative propagation.

Hybrid verbena disease

With proper care, the plant does not get sick. For powdery mildew, root rot, fungicides are used. Spider mites die from acaricides, aphids are afraid of insecticidal treatment.

Observing the basic rules of agricultural technology, creating comfortable conditions for verbena, you can admire beautiful inflorescences for a long time. Every year, new hybrid varieties appear that are striking in color. Verbena is good as an independent plant and part of a single landscape composition.