Common Name: verbena
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Verbenaceae
Zone: 8 to 10
Height: 1.00 to 1.50 feet
Spread: 1.50 to 2.50 feet
Bloom Time: May to frost
Bloom Description: Lavender
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Annual, Ground Cover, Naturalize
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Attracts: Hummingbirds, Butterflies
Tolerate: Drought
Culture
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 8-10. In St. Louis (USDA Zone 6), it is usually grown as an annual in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. In USDA Zones 7 and south, it is usually grown as a short-lived perennial or annual. It tolerates light shade, but best flowering usually occurs in full sun. Plants have good heat and drought tolerance. Avoid overhead watering to the extent possible. This verbena is a patented plant that will not grow from seed. Plants may be purchased in six packs from local nurseries. Place plants outdoors in spring after last frost date. Young plants may be pinched to promote bushier growth. Deadhead spent flowers to encourage additional bloom. Plants may decline in summer periods of prolonged hot and dry conditions. Containers may be overwintered indoors. Or new plants may simply be purchased each spring. If perennial growth is attempted in St. Louis, plants must be sited in well-protected locations.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Verbena is a genus of about 250 species of annuals, perennials and subshrubs from temperate and tropical areas of the Americas with a few from Southern Europe. They are grown for their showy flowers that are attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators.
Genus name comes from a Latin name used for some plants in religious ceremonies and also in medicine.
'Sealav', often sold in commerce as 'Seabrook's Lavender', is a robust trailing verbena that is noted for producing a profuse and abundant bloom of showy, fragrant, lavender flowers with long corollas over a lengthy late spring to fall bloom period. It was discovered growing in a bed of verbena cultivars in Chelmsford, Essex, England in 1996. Parents are unknown. This is a low-growing plant that typically matures in the form of a flattened dome to 16" tall with a spread to as much as 30" wide. Flowers appear in rounded terminal inflorescences (to 25 flowers per inflorescence) rising on short stems above a spreading foliage mound of ovate (sometimes with two shallow lateral lobes), medium green leaves (to 2" long). Each inflorescence contains numerous, small, fragrant, salverform lavender florets (each to 1/2" wide) which radiate outward from the center of the inflorescence. U. S. Plant Patent PP19,879 was issued on March 31, 2009.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Powdery mildew may occur. Watch for spider mites.
Uses
Short-lived perennial for beds, borders, rock gardens or edging. Window boxes, baskets and containers.