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Verbena Bonariensis
sheffgardner
Posts: 3
Hello all -
Some of my Verbena Bonariensis are throwing up much thicker stems than they should. At first I thought they were rogue plants but they're definitely from the same crown as the normal wand like stems you would expect.
Not the worst of problems but certainly detracts from the 'seethrough' nature of these plants that is their hallmark and place in the border.
Has anyone else experienced this? My instinct is to cut out the offending stems, a bit like when a variegated plant wants to revert.
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Posts
I'd have to say they look about the same as mine.
My VB is in full bloom and quite a few are around 6ft. Maybe yours is getting its stem ready for a growth spurt.
I guess you could cut the stem lower down and let the remaining side shoots grow.
Last edited: 02 August 2016 15:40:57
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Perhaps nothing to worry about then! It was just the disparity between the 'new' stems and the ones already flowering that had me worried.
They've been robust this year. I like the effect. Just as airy but on a giant scale! Have to scale up and grow them with miscanthus instead of pennisetum and rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne' instead of R. 'City Garden'!
H-C
We discard the mature plants every 2 years (after winter as the Goldfinches love the seeds) as they get too bulky at the base. They self seed so much it's never a problem to have a continuous supply.
I got some of these in a 6 perrenials for tenner wowcher deal as I had this voucher to use up. I read somewhere it was an invasive species in a long list of countries and I got scared and threw it away! Now I wish I had just grown it in a pot.
Last edited: 02 August 2016 16:57:49
It can only be invasive by seeding wakeshine, the roots don't wander. But it's too easy to lose in a lot of gardens given a cold wet winter.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Also, they only 'invade' the sunny side of the garden. You will come to recognise the seedlings which tend to be in clumps and they are easily hoed.
Oh okay nutcutlet and B3...I will remember that for next time.
I find ones that overwinter do tend to be a bit sturdier.
Cold and wet soil is their enemy as nut says, but if you're worried about them not surviving, they're easy to propagate from cuttings too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...