Verbena: planting and caring for perennial flowers

Verbena is a perennial plant that blooms with beautiful and colorful inflorescences. It has more than 200 species and survives in different conditions. Each variety is characterized by its own characteristics and properties. There are creeping and bush species, so every gardener can choose a certain variety of vervain, the planting and care of which is approximately the same.

What is this perennial plant

Most often you can find hybrid plant varieties. But you can also plant hard, Canadian, Buenos Aires verbena in open ground. The species have pink, purple, white, lilac, red inflorescences. It is rare to find a yellow tint.

What hybrid verbena flowers look like

Inflorescences are located at the top of the stem, have rounded inflorescences. The size of each of them is small, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. In inflorescences there can be up to 50 flowers. Flowering begins in early summer and lasts until October, but can last until frost.

Hard verbena

What do vervains look like? All varieties grow as shrubs no more than 1 m in height. The verbena flower is susceptible to damage to caterpillars and butterflies that eat it.

The plant has found application in medicine. The extract from its leaves is used to improve appetite, stimulate the gag reflex. The smell of home-grown verbena relieves fatigue, eliminates headaches.

Ampel verbena

Types and varieties

There are more than 200 varieties of verbena, but only a few of them are used for decorative purposes:

• hybrid. The plant is bred to obtain a new coloration of the inflorescences. In rare cases, it can be yellow-orange. The height of the shrub is no more than 0.5 m, therefore it is considered undersized. The leaves are serrated, the stems are lowered. Inflorescences can be round, in the form of cones, umbrellas. Hybrid varieties change the color of the petals from the moment of flowering until the end of the summer period. If you take care of the variety in winter, it survives, becomes perennial;
• tough. The leaves are dense, wedge-shaped, the stems fancifully branch, the inflorescences are erect, have an elongated shape, a lilac shade;

Lemon verbena

• ampelous (Canadian). The bush is small, the maximum height is 20 cm. Creeping shoots, leaves are openwork. If you plant vervain in a flowerpot, the branches will hang down, dropping from the pot. The shade of flowers is different: white, pink, lilac. It is rare to find a blue variety;
• citric. Perennial verbena has a lemon scent. Inflorescences are small, spreading. The color can be lilac or white. Essential oils used in perfumery are obtained from the petals;
• Buenos Aires. It has the highest height, reaching up to 1 m. Flowering can last up to two years after sowing. The flowers have a pleasant aroma.

Any of these varieties take root well if properly cared for. Therefore, the rules for choosing seeds, planting, reproduction and care must be followed.

Buenos Aires verbena

Verbena: planting and care

It is recommended to choose soil that does not have stagnant water. The garden bush does not tolerate such conditions.Wetlands and low-lying areas should also be avoided. As for the type of soil, then all varieties of verbena are unpretentious.

If the soil is excessively dense, a layer of drainage is laid in the hole, consisting of rubble, brick breakage. Loose soil is laid on top, which should allow oxygen and moisture to pass through.

When planting a large number of bushes, take into account that there should be a distance of at least 20 cm between them. If the variety is large, sow at a distance of 40 cm. The advantage of the plant is suppression of weeds, which eliminates the need for weeding.

Seed collection

In autumn, verbena boxes dry up, acquiring a brown tint. This suggests that you can collect seeds. The boxes are laid out on paper or cloth and wait until they dry completely. To prevent rot formation, they need to be turned over periodically.

After complete drying, take out the seeds, pouring them into a paper bag. It is signed in order to remember in which package the seeds of a particular variety are located.

Landing in garden flower beds and pots

For planting seeds or seedlings, areas with good lighting are selected. The plant loves light and warmth, it can grow even in drought conditions.

So that a large amount of oxygen and moisture gets to the roots or seeds, the soil is made loose and light. As a fertilizer, humus or a special composition with an acidic pH is used.

Transplanting can only be done in spring or summer. It is possible in the fall, but when there is no frost. Even if the seedlings are underground, they will slow down their growth at sub-zero temperatures.

For planting in open ground, the seeds are placed at a distance of 20-60 cm from each other, depending on the degree of growth of the variety. If they are planted in pots, pots, drainage is done - pebbles are poured onto the bottom, only then filled with soil.

If plant parts are used, they are dug up along with the root and clod. This will protect the root system from the slightest damage. They take root faster. The roots are inserted into a new pot, rearranged in a sunny place with a large flow of air.

Verbena: grown from green cuttings

Apical stems are used as cuttings. This method allows the shrub to grow faster. There are varieties that reproduce only in this way. How to propagate and grow vervain:

1. Cut off a green young shoot up to 7 cm long.
2. Remove the lower leaves, exposing part of the shoot.
3. Treatment with root root or other means to stimulate growth is carried out, but this is not necessary.
4. The shoot is planted in the ground, the soil must be loose.
5. The shoot pot is covered with a bag or plastic bottle to stabilize the temperature.
6. Leave in a dark room, constantly moistening the soil.

Growing and caring for verbena outdoors

If verbena bushes are propagated, cultivation is carried out in a specific order. After the appearance of the root system in the shoots, they are transplanted into open ground. Nitrogen-containing fertilizers are added for feeding. To make the bush lush, you need to pinch the top of the sprout.

The transplant is carried out in early summer. June is good for that. In order for the seedlings to better endure the first time in the open field, while still in a pot, it must be left outside (on the balcony) in good weather. This method is called hardening.

Transplanting is carried out in well-dug soil. It is periodically watered and fertilized.Then the plant is taken faster, the risk of developing diseases is reduced.

Care of seedlings, seedlings

When the first shoots appeared, it is necessary to start leaving. First, a top dressing is added, which increases the amount of green mass:

• leaf growth is accelerated by the use of nitrogen fertilizers;
• every two weeks, mineral fertilizers are added, which contain more phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen (ammophos, nitroammofosk);
• pinch the ampelous verbena variety, which should grow 1 m in height, this allows you to make the bush more lush. If the plant should be up to 0.5 m, pinching is not necessary;
• watering must be carried out so that the soil is constantly moistened, but not waterlogged.

How to care for vervain

Planting and caring for verbena outdoors is different from caring for seedlings at home.

• Treatment of the beds. The soil is periodically loosened, especially when it rains. This is necessary for oxygen to reach the roots. To prevent weeds from growing between the bushes, the vervain needs to be mulched or the bushes should be planted close to each other. They are independently able to cope with weeds.
• For the winter, it is necessary to provide comfortable conditions for the bushes, since verbena is considered a perennial plant. To preserve the flowers for many years, all the bushes are carefully dug up along with the rhizomes, transplanted into pots, and stored in the basement during the winter. If you leave the plant in a bright room, then it can even bloom under the condition of high humidity, which is not possible in all apartments during the heating season. When spring comes, the shrub is pruned, transplanted back to the garden. The plant begins to grow immediately, faster than seeds or shoots.
• Watering an adult plant should be regular but moderate. It is unacceptable to leave dry soil for a long time. The need for watering is determined by the dryness of the topsoil. If it is wet, there is enough water; if it is dry, water it. Watering is carried out less frequently from mid-July.
• Top dressing. During the summer period, during flowering, it is necessary to feed up to four times. Do not do it more often. If the top dressing is organic, it is applied only once for the whole summer. In another case, a fertilizer is used that contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other minerals.

How to feed verbena if it grows poorly: nitrogen-containing fertilizers, preparations with a large amount of phosphorus and potassium.

Diseases and pests of the verbena flower

The shrub is resistant to various types of pathogens, fungal and bacterial infections, parasites. But, if the soil is excessively waterlogged, various diseases are often formed.

Root rot

• Tospoviruses. It is a pathogen that slows down growth and flowering. Leaves and shoots are deformed. Brown spots of uneven shape appear on the sheets. The central vein in the middle of the leaf turns red or brown. The only way to fight is to dig up and destroy the plant.
• Rot of stems and roots. The shrub begins to wither. The stem becomes black and tough, the roots turn white, and when the disease spreads, turn brown. The disease develops faster if the moisture concentration is high. The infected plants are dug up and destroyed. Fosetil is used to prevent the disease.
• Powdery mildew. White spots appear on the leaves, consisting of mushroom mycelium. Leaves partially turn purple, dry. In the absence of treatment, the bushes die. The infected plant is dug up and destroyed. At the initial stages of the disease, biteranol, azoxystrobin are used.
• Aphid. The parasite eats leaves, verbena flowers and shoots. Insects attack bushes due to improper watering or excessive fertilization. For protection, pyrimicarb, pymetrozine are used.
• Midges.First, they begin to eat the leaves, forming pits where the midges lay their eggs, and larvae emerge from them, further affecting the plant. The infected flower bed is completely dug up and destroyed.

Flower gnats

For the prevention of the above diseases and parasites, insecticides and fungicides should be used in spring and summer.

What problems can you face during growing

With improper cultivation and care of verbena, various problems arise that must be dealt with in a timely manner.

• Why does the verbena plant not bloom? There are two reasons for this. Poor watering, due to which the soil becomes excessively dry. As a result, the roots do not develop, little nutrients and moisture enter the stem. The second reason is the wrong or reduced amount of fertilizer.
• Leaf spot. Spots of purple, brown, white appear on the leaves. This indicates fungal, viral, bacterial diseases. If the spotting has spread to the entire shrub, it is destroyed so that neighboring crops do not become infected.

Verbena is a perennial that grows in various conditions. To enhance the growth of green mass and flowering, the gardener must properly care for it. Plants love plenty of sunlight, air and moisture. But with the latter, you need to be careful so as not to arrange a swamp under the bushes. Because of the waterlogged soil, the verbena will die before our eyes.