Verbena

Botanical/Latin
   Verbena

Pronunciation
   ver-been-ah

Common Name
   Creeping Vervain

Hardiness zone range
   7 - 10

General Comments
Sensational garden plants with shiny green foliage and vibrant colored flower clusters that are produced for an extraordinarily long season-from early summer right through to the arrival of frosts in autumn.

Uses
Flowering with tremendous ease and profusion, they are ideal for high profile situations such as around the front door, the mail box, patios, swimming pools, or anywhere that their stunning, long lasting color is required.

They luxuriate in sunny, summer conditions and are great for putting in containers, window boxes, balconies, and roof gardens. They thrive and spread along banks, raised beds, or in rock gardens, cascading down over walls and supporting structures, and creating thick ground cover that needs little weeding or maintenance. This carpeting habit and tireless blooming are also very useful in traditional style borders, or in mixed beds with shrubs, grasses, and conifers.

Butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to the nectar rich flowers.

Light Preference
Sun

Culture
Easy to grow, all they need is a well drained soil that is reasonably fertile. They are not heavy feeders, but a light dressing, with a well balanced fertilizer, applied in early spring will keep them lush and floriferous. They tolerate heat, summer humidity, and even dry periods well and are not troubled by any serious pests or diseases.

Background
Verbena officinalis is a European herb that has been used as a ceremonial and medicinal plant since ancient times. The Greeks and Romans used it in their religious ceremonies, and Verbena became the classical name for plants of the altar.

The common name, Vervain, is thought to come from the Celtic word, Ferfaen (drive away stones); this refers to their use for treating kidney stones and ailments of the bladder.

There are around 200 species; most of these are either annuals or tender perennials. Only a few of them are hardy in our climatic zones. Our favorite cultivar, `Homestead Purple', is, without doubt, the best perennial garden variety. It is thought to be a hybrid derived from the Rose Verbena (V. canadensis). It was found by two eminent plantsmen, Dr. Michael Dirr and Dr. Allan Armitage, growing on an old homestead in Georgia. It is an excellent, easy to grow plant that is vigorous, yet well behaved, and is almost constantly covered with deep purple flowers from summer to the cold weather of early winter. The Latin derivation of the word Verbena means "good plant" (herba bona), so it is appropriate that it precedes `Homestead Purple' for it is an exceedingly good garden plant.

Splendor Suggestions
In colder districts of Zones 6 & 7, it is worth considering placing an extra layer of mulch around the crown and stems during the latter part of autumn and early winter. It acts as an insulator and provides protection against cold injury. In spring, when the main winter period has passed, and before new growth begins, it should be pulled away and spread out under the branches to act as normal mulch. Only the main stems and crown should be covered in this way. The foliage can be protected by placing evergreen boughs (good use for old Christmas trees) loosely over them; this gives protection while still allowing air movement. Gardening friends in locations as cold as Zone 5 report that this procedure works well for them. The foliage may get damaged, even killed, but the main parts of the stems and crown over-winter satisfactorily and grow out quickly again each spring.

Companion Plants
The vivid colored flowers are wonderful with silvery foliaged plants like Stachys `Silver Carpet' or Artemisia `Powis Castle', or white flowering plants like Echinacea `White Swan' or Gaura `Whirling Butterflies'.

For striking late season combinations, include it with the Montauk Daisies, Nipponicanthemum, white and lavender Asters like `Snow Flurry' or `Prof. Anton Kippenberg', or ornamental grasses like Miscanthus sinensis `Variegata'.