Verbena - flowers that were known two thousand years ago. Their delicate lemon aroma, a wide variety of colors and amazing unpretentiousness are known to many gardeners. The process of growing these flowers is simple, but it requires some knowledge. We will talk about when to sow verbena, how to care for it and much more later in this article.
Botanical description of the plant
Verbena flowers belong to the Verbena family. Their homeland is South America. The height of the shoots of the plant varies from 20 cm to 1.5 m. On them are opposite short-leaflets. Verbena has a strong and extremely branched root system. The stems of the plant are most often erect, but there are species with lodging. A fleecy green peel covers them. Leaflets have serrated edges and an oval shape. A short pile is noticeable on them.
In early July, verbena throws panicle or corymbose inflorescences, consisting of 30-50 buds, which bloom alternately. Small five-blade corollas can reach 25 mm in diameter. The verbena photo shows that it can be painted in different colors: white, blue, pink, yellow, lilac, red and their derivative shades.
Main types
Today, there are more than 250 different varieties and hybrids of this plant. We will talk only about the most popular of them. Hybrid verbena is divided into two groups. One of them includes compact flowers, such as "crystal", "pink delight", "amethyst" and others. The second group is represented by plants having fairly large inflorescences. For example, “defiance”, “etna”, “julia”, etc.
In urban flower beds or garden plots, you can often find such types of verbena as:
- Canadian In Russia, it is grown as an annual flower, the stems of which are low - only 20 cm. Such verbena can be painted in lilac, white or pink.
- Buenos Aires. The height of straight and strong stems often reaches 1.2 m. All of them depart exclusively from the base of the plant. Inflorescences on it appear simultaneously. This species has an amethyst shade.
- Ampelic. Verbena, which is the best suited both for vertical gardening, and for planting in hanging planters. The stems grow no more than 60 cm in length. Has small inflorescences with small flowers of various shades.
- Tough. This verbena is painted in lilac color. Leaves are fleecy and slightly elongated. Its stems spread along the ground and have a tetrahedral shape. The seeds of such verbena can be stored for a long time - about 4-5 years.
Most common varieties
This flower is very popular with gardeners, so they often decorate them with flower beds on their personal plots. There is nothing surprising. After all, seeing once verbena in the photo, you can immediately fall in love with this lovely flower. The most popular plant varieties are:
- Amethyst. Its buds appear with the onset of July. Low bushes plants strike the beauty of their inflorescences, which have a bright blue tint.
- Defiance. It can grow up to 30 cm in height. Most often, the inflorescences are painted red. Under the influence of sunlight they can fade.
- Etna. The height of the bushes does not exceed 45 cm. The inflorescence resembles a small umbrella. Each of them consists of approximately 50 flowers.
- F1 Obsession. This name combines several different varieties at once, characterized by their compactness and rapid growth of numerous lateral shoots. The color of their inflorescences is diverse, ranging from beige and ending with pink tones. Often, such a verbena has two-color flowers.
- Silver Anna. It has a pleasant aroma. Bright pink flowers of the plant form a dense inflorescence, but by the end of summer they begin to turn pale. This variety is bred only by cuttings.
- Pink parfait. This is a low-growing variety with creeping shoots, which is ideal for vertical gardening. Its flowers can be either red or white with a cream tint.
Methods of growing verbena
The most common is planting seeds. When buying, you must immediately pay attention to their expiration dates, as they may differ for different species. Experienced gardeners recommend purchasing seeds only in specialized stores.
Immediately in the open ground, it is possible to sow hard and Buenos Aires verbena. This is done in late spring, when the air temperature rises to +18 ⁰C. The remaining species must first be germinated at home, and then planted in open ground.
Propagation by cuttings
Growing verbena in this way is not often done, as this activity is more troublesome than sowing seeds. But still consider this process in more detail. In order to start propagation of the plant by means of cuttings, it must first be carefully dug up, together with a lump of earth, and left in a room where the air temperature is kept at around + 10 ⁰C. All this is done in the fall.
With the onset of spring, the tops of the shoots must be cut so that four or six pairs of leaves are left on them. Damaged in this way places must be treated with crushed charcoal. After this, the stalk can be planted in a mixture of peat and sand so that its level reaches the lower leaves. Then they are removed, leaving only one or two pairs at the top. After completing this procedure, it is advisable to cover the plant with a transparent film. Verbena rooting usually occurs within one month.
Seed cultivation
To do this correctly, you need to know several basic nuances of their landing at home:
- The best time for planting verbena seeds is March and the beginning of April, because for good germination they need a daylight hours of at least 11-12 hours. In winter, it is very short, so the seedlings will germinate slowly.
- Seeds do not deepen into the ground, but are evenly scattered on a moistened surface.
- In order for the seeds to hatch in two days, the room temperature should be around +24 ⁰C. After the emergence of sprouts, the containers with seedlings must be removed to a cooler place, where there will be no more than +18 ⁰C.
- It is better to water from a spray. So a stream of water will not be able to damage the delicate roots of seedlings. Watering should be dosed, as the flowers (verbena) do not like excessive moisture.
How to care for seedlings
There is nothing complicated here, but this process requires some knowledge. After diving, plants need to be given time to take root firmly. After about two weeks, seedlings can already be fed. After four or five leaves appear on the plant, they pinch the upper part. This contributes to the germination of lateral shoots.
Two or three weeks before planting verbena in the open ground, young seedlings must be hardened, because such plants adapt faster on the street. To do this, boxes with seedlings need to be taken out for a short time to fresh air. After a week they are left for the whole day, bringing them into the house only for the night.
Site selection, soil and drainage
First of all, you need to find a place for planting seedlings. Verbena can grow anywhere, for example, on a site where such early plants as daffodils or tulips have already bloomed. However, the most luxurious flowers will grow where the most light. Verbena is not afraid of direct sunlight, since it does not fade in the heat and practically does not fade.
It grows well on loamy fertile soils, as well as on other soils, but provided that they are loose and have high permeability. Verbena can well take root on more unfavorable land, it is enough to mix river sand with it. To drain excess water from the flowerbed, it is necessary to organize drainage. The following materials are perfect for this:
- gravel;
- broken brick;
- expanded clay;
- small fragments of cobblestones.
Such a layer will eliminate excess moisture and protect the roots of the plant from decay. Properly organized drainage will not allow water to stagnate for a long time.
Landing
The first step is to prepare the wells. They are made at a distance of about half a meter from each other, while between the rows it should be slightly larger - about 0.7 m. In the holes you need to fill in a special nutrient mixture, which should include river sand, humus and peat. If the land is depleted, it is worth adding mineral complex fertilizer to the listed components.
As for planting seeds directly into the open ground, they are evenly distributed in previously made grooves, the distance between which should be more than 0.7 m. Two weeks after the first shoots appear, young plants need to be fed using mineral for these purposes liquid fertilizer. In the future, this will have to be done several more times:
- after the appearance of buds;
- when all the inflorescences are revealed;
- after the cessation of flowering.
How to care for a plant in open ground
Growing flowers does not take much time, because they do not need any special care. Verbena does not tolerate excessive moisture, but it will have to be watered all season - from the time of planting in the ground until the flowering stops. At the same time, moist soil should not be loosened. An exception can only be a dry, hot summer. In this case, loosening is necessary because it improves the access of oxygen to the roots. To prevent moisture from evaporating too quickly, sawdust or other mulching material is poured under the plants.
Organic fertilizers such as compost and rotted manure must be applied correctly and in the right quantities, as they contain a lot of nitrogen, which stimulates the development of green mass and prevents the formation of inflorescences. Often they are introduced in the spring to improve shoot growth. Subsequently, the shoots are fertilized exclusively with mineral fertilizers.
Weed control in the flower beds where the garden verbena flower grows is necessary only at the initial stage. When the bushes increase in size, they will fill the whole space. From now on, they themselves will prevent the appearance of unwanted plants.
Verbena in the flowerbed
Low-growing varieties of this plant are widely used in landscape design in the form of a green border. On a flower bed with other flowers, verbena looks great. For example, in combination with camellias, it can decorate the front garden paths. The best effect can be achieved with mass planting of verbena. It can also be diluted with various decorative cereals, echinacea, asters and marigolds.
Due to the fact that verbena blooms for quite a long time, and also has a wide variety of shades, it can often be seen in flowerbeds, broken near multi-storey buildings. In addition to these flowers, it will look great in the vicinity of annual plants, such as chamomile, cosmea and nyvyanik, as well as perennials: delphinium, roses of various varieties and rudbeckia.
Verbena is also successfully used for vertical gardening. It is planted in pots or hanging flowerpots, which are then placed in conservatories, on terraces and balconies. For this purpose, ampel verbena is best suited.
Medicinal properties
This flower is not only beautiful, but also useful. It contains many vitamins, minerals and essential oils, as well as glycosides and flavonoids. That is why verbena flowers are also a medicinal plant, from which various preparations are prepared in the form of decoctions, tinctures, etc. It has disinfecting, diaphoretic, and choleretic properties. It is also used for muscle cramps, inflammation, fever and colds.
A verbena sprig added to tea will help to quickly cope with depression, insomnia, fatigue, tantrum and nervous strain. The plant is also used for the preparation of lotions, which are made for scabies, eczema, furunculosis and rashes.
However, there are contraindications. For example, pregnant women should not take drugs that include verbena, as it can increase muscle tone, and this can lead to premature birth. It is also not recommended to do this for nursing mothers, you must first consult with your doctor. You should be careful with similar drugs and people prone to various kinds of allergic reactions.