Hybrid Verbena: growing from seeds, varieties, ideal

Cultivated by breeders "pigeon grass", or verbena, surprises with a variety of shapes and colors. This is ideal for decorating the garden, balcony, country house. Caps of flowers in combination with carved foliage look great in flower pots, flowerpots, on beds and alpine slides.

General plant information

Verbena is a wild plant in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. There are more than 200 species in the verbena family. Hybrid verbena is used for garden cultivation, landscape design. This is a group of perennial shrubs bred by breeders for decorative cultivation.

Ampelic verbena vegetative variety Mix mixes with a variety of shades

The main features of verbena:

• tetrahedral pubescent shoots;
• carved leaves (grouped below, there are varieties with an oblong, lanceolate, triangular, heart-shaped form of leaf blades);
• the buds are collected in dense caps; after flowering, they form seed crusts;
• developed root system (depending on the height of the bush, it deepens into the soil by 15-

25 cm);

• high productivity (up to 12 peduncles per plant);
• flowering duration (from mid-June to the end of September).

There are upright and creeping varieties. Nurseries often offer a flower mixture, in one package plants with red, blue, peach, blue inflorescences.

The height of the hybrids varies from 10 to 50 cm. Allocate:

• ground cover creeping varieties with shoots up to 60 cm long;
• dwarf up to 15 cm tall, with small flower caps;
• large-flowered ampoules, growing in flowerpots, pots, hanging baskets (they are characterized by long flowering, decorate home winter gardens until late winter);
• medium-sized with erect shoots up to 30 cm;
• tall, resistant to lodging.

By the way, well-branched varieties are called vegetative verbena. They are propagated by cuttings. Seed is called species with erect sturdy stems, elongated buds, forming large seed bolls.

Use in garden design

Hybrid varieties, having a compact root system, get along well with other plants:

• cereal and bluegrass herbs;
• petunia;
• geraniums;
• juniper and other conifers.

Creeping Vereina

For the design of the site, varieties are traditionally used:

• "Ideal" is characterized by early flowering, the color of the caps is cherry, pink, red, white, blue, purple;
• "Round dance" of various colors, the buds have a color center (ampelous, drought-resistant verbena);
• "Carousel" - a medium-sized shrub that looks like a primrose (white, blue, purple, pink, red colors are presented, there are varieties with a colored eye);
• "Fad" is a tall verbena forming a dense bush due to numerous lateral shoots.

Variety search is not limited to this list. Large-flowered "Etna", "Julia", "Cardinal" look elegantly on the flower beds. For balconies choose compact types "Crystal", "Dazler", "Amethyst".

Propagation of a grassy plant for open ground

Verbena is mainly propagated by seeds. If you want to grow a rare hybrid, you can cuttings. Each of the methods is worth considering in more detail.

Verbena propagation by seeds

The plant has a long vegetative period, if you immediately sow the seeds in open ground under bad weather conditions, rainy summers, you can’t wait for flowering. It is better to sow the seeds in advance at home or in the greenhouse. If you do this in the second decade of March, verbena will release buds in June.

There is one caveat: like all hybrids, verbena planted with seeds does not always inherit the best species characteristics. "Wilds" with a cone-shaped inflorescence can grow.

It is pointless to collect planting material yourself. It is better to purchase it in bags - this is a guarantee that the plant will delight with lush caps.

Growing from cuttings

Cuttings will help save the favorite variety until next spring. They are harvested in the fall before the onset of frost. Each leaves up to 6 leaves. After two or three days, roots grow in the water at the shoot. He is ready to land. Root verbena in a mixture of peat and sand, deepen to the point of growth of the lower leaves. A powerful root system will form in a month. By the New Year, buds will appear. By the spring planting, the tops of the shoots are again separated from the wintering house.

Before cutting the cuttings, the tool is disinfected so as not to bring a putrefactive infection. The youngest shoots are chosen.

How to grow verbena seedlings

For planting seeds, choose loose, seasoned with humus and sand soil. It must be neutral. A universal soil mixture is suitable. The seed material is placed immediately in an individual pot or common planting capacity.

Small step-by-step instruction:

• the soil is leveled, slightly crushed;
• seeds are laid out on the surface of the earth, do not crush;
• they wet the surface of the sprayer or watering can with a fine-jet nozzle well;
• it is not necessary to fill the seeds on top, the planting container is tightened with a film or covered with glass;
• cleaned for germination in a warm place (optimal temperature + 25 ° C), lighting is optional (after two days the seeds will swell, hatch, gathers appear after 6-7 days);
• emerging shoots are exposed, the recommended mode is + 15 ... + 17 ° C;
• picking into individual containers is carried out after the appearance of the 4th leaf.

When sprinkling, water is distributed evenly. Unfolded seeds will remain in place

A few nuances of growing:

• hybrid verbena bushes when grown from seeds will stretch less if the plant is illuminated with a diode lamp, prolonging daylight hours up to 14 hours;
• the seeds will sprout evenly if you hold them before unfolding in a solution of a growth stimulator;
• moderate watering is needed, root rot develops from stagnant water;
• 2 weeks before planting on the site, the seedlings are tempered: put in a cool place for several hours, the time interval is gradually increased.

In plastic cups, drainage is made, the container is filled at ¼ height with fine expanded clay or sand

Well-hardened seedlings will not die during an unexpected night cooling to -3 ° C. Plants are transferred to open ground after return frosts, when night temperatures are set at + 10 ° C. Landing is carried out by the method of "transshipment" with the preservation of an earthy coma. For verbena choose well-lit areas of the garden with neutral loose soil. It is advisable to plant wood ash, fluff or dolomite flour at the rate of 1 cup per 1 m2 before planting.

Care, watering and top dressing

The plant does not need constant care. It is enough to water the flower in dry periods. With excess moisture, fungal infections develop, with a deficiency, when the earthen lump dries up, seed bolls are actively formed, new buds are not laid. For periods of heavy rains, drainage or drainage is provided so that the water does not stagnate at the roots. Verbena will not grow in a flooded place.

Now about top dressing. During the growth period, the bush needs nitrogen, when buds are planted - other trace elements: potassium, calcium, phosphorus. Fertilizers are applied no more than once a month. With an excess of fertilizers, the plant is inhibited.

Bed processing

An important condition is regular weeding. Weeds are quickly woven into the root system of plants; they cannot be removed without damaging the flower bush. For access of oxygen, evaporation of excess moisture, loosening is necessary.

By the way, on clay soils, peat will help to avoid the appearance of a peel. It is poured with a layer up to 5 cm. It performs the function of mulch - it retains moisture.

For cultivation, it is better to use scapular cultivators, they damage the root system less.

Saving Verbena in a House in Winter

The flower is wintered on a glazed loggia, insulated balcony or conservatory at temperatures up to + 15 ° С. It is advisable to plant bushes in a wintering container before the cold weather. The stalk is shortened to 10 cm. The earth needs to be regularly moistened so that the earth does not crack. In the dark, the plant is kept for a month at the very beginning of spring. After that they take out into the light, loosen, feed. By the onset of warm days, the bush will be ready for transfer to the site. From overwintered hybrids, cuttings are selected for vegetative propagation.

Hybrid Verbena Disease

With proper care, the plant does not get sick. From powdery mildew, root rot use fungicides. The spider mite dies from acaricides, the aphid is afraid of insecticidal treatment.

Observing the basic rules of agricultural technology, creating comfortable conditions for verbena, you can admire beautiful inflorescences for a long time. Each year, new hybrid varieties that are striking in color appear. Verbena is good as an independent plant and part of a single landscape composition.