This flowering plant has many names since ancient times: cast iron, iron or pigeon grass. According to popular beliefs, she grew up in those places where drops of blood of the crucified Christ fell. Depending on the climate, planting and care, verbena can grow as an annual or perennial plant, capable of decorating any household plot.
Botanical Description
The plant belongs to the whole Verbena family and includes about 250 different species that feel safe in the tropical and subtropical climate of the Mediterranean and the American continent, from where it spread throughout the world.
In Russia, verbena, the planting and care of which is not difficult, grows as an herbaceous plant or shrub, annual or perennial, due to its low winter hardiness. Depending on the variety, it has different stems: erect, creeping or outstretched, which can be smooth or slightly rough.
The leaves of verbena are dark green, slightly pubescent, the edges depend on the species: serrated, dissected or pinnately incised. They are located on the stem in turn or, conversely, in pairs. In the inflorescence usually there are 30-50 small flowers 1.5 to 2.5 cm in size, collected in corollas with 5 petals.
Depending on the variety, proper planting and care, verbena flowers (photo below), painted in a wide variety of shades of white, blue, yellow, dark red and blue. They are able to bloom for a long time, from June to November. Pollination is usually carried out by nocturnal moths, but self-pollination is also possible due to bacillus.
In the open ground, verbena can safely winter only in the southern regions, where it grows to a bush 1 m tall. In the conditions of central Russia, the plant took root exclusively as an annual.
History of verbena and its medicinal properties
The origin of the name verbena originates from ancient Rome, in Latin “verbum” means “word”, where the beauty of its flowers was personified with the goddess of love Venus. In Egypt, they were considered the tears of Isis, in other countries - drops of blood of Mercury, the grass of mercy or holiness.
Ancient Christians consider verbena the baptized blood of Christ due to the fact that it was first discovered on Mount Calvary and used to stop the bleeding from its wounds. Since then, she has been credited with the possibility of disgusting evil and healing wounds.
The druids, who had reverence for this plant, endowing it with the qualities of healing diseases, reconciling sworn enemies and kindling the fire of love, also paid attention to verbena.
Verbena tea, or medicinal (Verbena officinalis) refers to perennials up to 0.8 m high, has a long stem and oblong leaves with short petioles. The color of flowers with 5 petals collected in panicles: light purple. For medicinal purposes, use all the aboveground parts, the roots are not harvested.
The properties of verbena are used to treat vegetative-vascular dystonia. These are antispasmodic and blood circulation-improving features in blood vessels. Thanks to which they relieve headache and dizziness, stabilize blood pressure. Also, the plant is used to treat stomach diseases and diarrhea, with diseases of the throat.
Sowing seeds and preparing seedlings
Verbena is planted and propagated in 3 ways: seeds, cuttings and dividing bushes. Important issues when growing verbena: planting and care, when to sow. Photo seeds clearly shows that they are very small and have an oblong shape.
For growing verbena for seedlings, sowing should be carried out no earlier than the end of March - beginning of April. When buying seeds in the store, you must pay attention to the shelf life (3-5 years) and take into account that hybrid varieties have lower germination compared to others. Harvested sowing material of verbena does not always repeat the varietal qualities of mother plants.
Soil is prepared light with mandatory humus content. Preliminary, the seeds are recommended to be stratified, i.e. hold in a damp cloth in the refrigerator for 3-4 days at a temperature of + 2º- + 4º. Then spread out on the soil surface, lightly sprinkling with a layer of humus with a thickness of not more than 5 mm, friendly seedlings appear after 20-30 days, at room temperature - after 2-3 weeks.
It must be borne in mind that young seedlings do not like waterlogging due to possible rotting of the roots, so the boxes covered with glass must be ventilated. At the stage of 2 leaves, small verbena dive into separate pots. After 2 weeks, make the first top dressing with complex fertilizers, ready seedlings can be transplanted into the open ground in May.
Propagation by cuttings and division of the bush
There are varieties of verbena that do not produce seeds. For their reproduction use cuttings. As a preparation, the desired plant is pre-set for the winter in a cool room with temperatures up to + 10º.
The procedure is carried out in February or March, for which the upper part with 4-6 pairs of leaves is cut from the top of the plant. At the bottom of the handle there should be a tip at a distance of about 1 cm from the leaf, the lower cut is sprinkled with crushed coal. Leaves all need to be removed, except for the topmost.
The soil for rooting is taken from peaty sand (in equal proportions), sand or perlite. A match is made into the hole in which the stalk sits, on top of the box is covered with glass or polyethylene. The development of the root system usually lasts 2-4 weeks.
The method of propagation by dividing the bush can be used only for medicinal verbena.
Verbena: planting and care in the open ground
Such flowers are often planted to decorate household plots, they take root on any soil and prefer territories with bright sunlight. Loam is ideally suited for planting; it loosens moisture well after frequent loosening. When planting on heavier soils, sand is added to them. Below it is better to make a simulator of expanded clay or fragments of brick.
Prepared seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of spring with a distance of about 25 cm, preferably in rainy weather. With dry soil, 0.5 l of water is added to each well, then a young plant is planted, covering the roots and pressing a little.
For verbena, planting and care (photo below) are simple and include cultivation, watering and top dressing. Be sure to avoid excess moisture and thickening of plants. Weeding from weeds must be done regularly. Later, when the bushes grow, it will not be needed.
To avoid drying out of the soil, it is better to mulch it with a layer of overripe foliage. In the phase of active growth, watering is often recommended, and in the second half of summer less often.
Top dressing must be carried out with complex fertilizers. Keep in mind that excess organics can reduce the number of buds and increase the growth of green parts due to the large amount of nitrogen, so manure and compost can be applied only 1 time per season. With proper planting and care, verbena flowers (photo below) will delight you with their bright colors for several months.
Wintering Verbena
In the midland of Russia, a plant can only be grown as an annual, as it does not tolerate frost and cooling below -3º. However, there is only one variety that can withstand such climatic conditions - it is an upright verbena.
In preparation for winter, the verbena stems, planting and care in the open ground for which allowed it to grow stronger and grow well, it is recommended to cut to ground level, then cover with lapnik from above. In the spring, new shoots from the preserved root will go to growth.
Variety of species and varieties
Over the past years, breeders have bred many varieties of verbena, planting and caring for which are not difficult. There are upright and creeping plants, ampelous and hybrid.
The following plant species and varieties are most widely distributed:
- Direct (Verbena stricta) - comes from North America, where it grows in the form of perennials up to 1.5 m high, foliage has a gray-green hue, flowers are blue-violet, inflorescences reach 40 cm in length;
- Lunar river (Moon river) - creeping plant variety up to 30 cm high, flowers are collected in umbrella-shaped inflorescences in the shape of a "herringbone", the shade is dark purple;
- Verbena buenos aires (Verbena bonariensis) - comes from the countries of South and Central America, in our conditions it is planted as an annual; It represents erect bushes up to 1.2 m high, has elongated leaves and small flowers of the Amethyst color, collected in large spikelets; flowering time: summer and until the end of autumn, seeds in the form of nuts ripen by the end of September.
Ampelic varieties of verbena
Covered with vibrant colors hanging from flowerpots or drawers on the balcony, verbena plants can be a great option for decorating a home or garden. Ampel varieties are distinguished by endurance, drought tolerance and a variety of colors, which are slightly smaller in size compared to other species.
Popular varieties of ampel verbena:
- Snow Queen - has inflorescences of 5 different colors (purple, blue, pink, red, etc.), most often landed in balcony boxes or planters; the length of the hanging stem can reach 0.6 m;
- Tapien - distinguished by openwork leaves and long shoots, flowering is plentiful and colorful;
- Quartz XP Silver - low-growing plants (up to 25 cm) having large inflorescences of light lilac color with silver;
- Empress Peach - shoots grow 25-50 cm in length, the color of the flowers is pale cream.
The cultivation of ampelous varieties from seeds has its own nuances: at the stage of 5-6 leaves, you need to pinch the plant, which will stimulate its active branching. When planting seedlings on a balcony or in a flowerpot, an open and sunny place is selected, which is usually done in May-June. On average, 2-3 plants are planted in each flowerpot with a capacity of up to 5 liters. In open ground, you can plant 40-50 plants per square meter. m
When growing ampel verbena, planting and care consist of loosening the soil during the growth period, regular morning watering every 2 days, mulching with leaves, top dressing with organic and mineral complex fertilizers. During the flowering period, it is necessary to remove wilted buds, which stimulates the laying of new ones.
Hybrid varieties
In decorative gardening, hybrid varieties are very popular, which breeders have been breeding since 1830. Their main difference is the presence of an eye in the center of the flower, as well as its regular shape, as can be seen in the verbena photo. Planting and caring for plants is completely uncomplicated. Numerous flowers of a hybrid form are collected in large inflorescences up to 50 pcs., The colors are very diverse: from white to bright scarlet and purple.
The most popular hybrid varieties:
- Wrinkled - decorated with delicate lilac and lilac flowers;
- Canadian verbena has bright red hues;
- The Defiance grows by a creeping shrub up to a height of 30 cm, has inflorescences of 4-5 cm with a bright red hue, in the center there is a greenish-cream eye in the shape of a star;
- Etna (Etna) - a small bush up to 50 cm tall, inflorescences up to 6 cm, umbellate, 45-55 aloe red flowers with a cream eye up to a diameter of 2.7 cm;
- Julia - decorated with dark purple flowers with a white middle;
- Schneekenigin (Schneekenigin) - a bush with pure white flowers with a light salad eye up to 2 cm in diameter.
The use of verbena in landscape design
This plant is multifunctional and widely distributed in personal plots and cottages. The only drawback is the impossibility of planting it in an apartment, where even with proper planting and care of verbena flowers, it will be difficult to provide her with a lot of light, air and night coolness.
A variety of species allows you to use verbena in different situations to decorate and improve decorativeness not only on the site:
- the formation of bright borders along the paths in the garden of low-growing varieties;
- use in flower beds and flower arrangements, for which it is recommended to select the color of flowers in one shade;
- mass plantings of plants will create the maximum decorative effect, differing in multicolor, its combination with asters, cereals and marigolds is possible;
- decorating a garden, gazebos or a balcony using ampelic types of verbena.
Bright colors and a variety of varieties of verbena, planting and care of which are available to both beginners and experienced gardeners, will allow this plant to become an ornament of any garden or country cottage, as well as a balcony in a multi-storey building.