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Verbena Bonariensis pruning

AdRockAdRock Posts: 241
in Plants
I was just wondering what everyone does with their Verbena because I’ve read several different ways to treat them. Do you cut them down to the ground in autumn, deadhead them and leave at full height, cut them to the ground in spring or just leave them completely?! 
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Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I leave most as the birds peck the seeds out in winter.
    Those that are a bit straggly or close to the lawn I cut back

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Wrigs21Wrigs21 Posts: 194
    Doesn’t seem to matter what I do to mine they grow back either way! 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited August 2022
    Once they have gone over completely, I take them down to low green shoots. It seems to be fine in London.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I leave them until they fall over, sometime in winter or early spring, then I cut them back to a few inches.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I take them down to the bottom two shoots. It doesn't matter when.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • LunarSeaLunarSea Posts: 1,923
    In the past I've made the mistake of cutting them right back in late autumn and losing them over winter. Problem is they've got hollow stems which catch the winter wet and frost. The winter before last I cut them back in February because the severe winds were rocking them so much but then I lost them anyway. Late frosts maybe. This last winter I just left them and they survived, but they probably would have done anyway because it was such a benign winter. But the severe storms in Feb broadcast the seeds absolutely everywhere and now they're like weeds in all the beds. 

    Take from that what you will :) but I guess it depends where you are re: winter wet etc. But this year I'll probably dead-head them before winter.
    Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. 

    I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
  • joanna65joanna65 Posts: 75
    edited August 2022
    I cut them down to new growth in the spring. Any that have died over the winter I just pull up. There are always plenty of self sown seedlings popping up although not always where I want them! I usually shake a few seed heads out into my hand in the autumn and scatter them in any bare patches. It is a bit hit and miss but they are so prolific here it is not worth sowing them in trays. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    joanna65 said:
    I cut them down to new growth in the spring. Any that have died over the winter I just pull up. ...
    I do the same.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    The same with my one like @VictorMeldrew   
    I lost 2 verbenas that were cut in Autumn and the one cut back in March grew bigger than last year. 
    Apparently, I decided to leave everything as it is and do the cutting in Spring time next year. I have no plants that necessarily require a cut in Autumn. 
    I will only take of the bed with the shrubs in Autumn as long as we get ever rain. Can’t wait to get the stiff gardening muscles in use again. 

    I ♥ my garden.

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I just leave them be
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