Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Verbena Bonariensis - can anyone help with loss of flowers

devmdevm Posts: 6
in Plants
Hi, I have two Verbena Bonariensis planted in pots a few metres from each other. One has started to lose flowers (see photos) having previously flowered well. The other is still flowering well. Any ideas on why one has started to change? Thanks in advance
«1

Posts

  • diggersjodiggersjo Posts: 172
    I'm not a flower person, OH like to look at them, but that one we have... Looks pot bound to me and not a very happy plat at all...  
    Yorkshire, ex Italy and North East coast. Growing too old for it!
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Has the pot got drainage holes. They don't like to be too wet. My flowers look like that once they've set seed. A bit early for that here. However, the leaves on your plant don't look healthy. They shouldn't be that yellow. That's why I was wondering if it's a drainage issue.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Looks like it's in a wash basin or something, which it won't be a fan of.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    It looks fine to me. The wash basin will be fine for planting if there are good, clear drainage holes. The purple florettes themselves don't flower for long. If you head dead them and take the stalk down to the juction below, they will reflower. I take mine down all summer and they rebloom until the frosts.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    We have been given seedlings from friends over the years and never had any success....until this year. We planted the seedling into the ground with good drainage and it has continued to grow and the bees and butterflies love it. But it is the ground and not a pot.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Ours grow too well between paving slabs. I reckon that's probably the best place to sow them🙄
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Verbena bonariensis hate being in a pot. Their roots naturally want to grow sideways making them unsuitable for a pot.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    edited August 2023
    Plant not happy in a pot.
    When growing well in the ground it will have long strong leaves on stout stems


    .
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They'll really only stay happy in pots short term @devm , unless the pots are suitable in their dimensions, and even then, they'll tend to be less happy and won't flower for very long .
    I pot up the few seedlings I get. There's only a few and only because of the mild winters we've had recently. I usually take cuttings - that's my usual method of propagating them, as they often die here over winter. They get potted on until big enough to plant out. I've just done some in the last few days. 
    They'll grow on quite quickly from the initial potting. I'd never leave them in pots permanently though. You could take cuttings from them, which is quite easy, and will give you more plants if you want them  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    I put a large plant of VB in a dustbin last year to  try and keep it alive until I could plant it is the garden. No soil, just water. It survived the entire winter and grew a few flower stems this year, in flower now which shows plants do not always conform to what they are supposed to do. I have two plants in large containers from last year which are also flowering, I accept they are not as bushy as the self sown seedling which is growing in a slate chipping path which has grown huge this year, still full of flowers.
    Devm's looks rather like my plant in the dustbin so possibly bad drainage.
Sign In or Register to comment.