Nursery Market Report: July 2000, Verbenas

Y2K has been a banner year for verbenas with new series and growth habits. You can find a place for each in the landscape.

Verbenas have come far in recent years. Perennial, vegetatively propagated verbenas, not their annual cousins, are considered staples in mixed flower gardens.

Recently, landscape contractors have been using award-winning varieties like Homestead Purple and Biloxi Blue everywhere. Series like the Tapien have become equally popular and useful because of their ground-hugging growth habit.

The Tapien blue-violet and New Gold lantana is one low-maintenance combination to consider planting. Tapien lavender and pink also perform exceptionally well.

Temari verbenas came out a couple years ago, and my first thought was they would never take the South’s heat. Well, they did and have returned from its winters, too.

PLANTING GUIDELINES. For success with any of these perennial types, proper soil preparation comes first. Add 3 to 4 inches of organic matter and till it to a depth of 8 to 10 inches. While doing this, spread 2 pounds per 100 square feet of a slow-release fertilizer, like a 12-6-6, 8-8-8 or a similar mix. Make sure plants get full sunlight and plenty of water.

Although verbenas are vigorous plants that bloom for weeks, they will eventually look a little weak. This is the time to cut them back and side dress with a little fertilizer. The plants will send out new runners and produce more blooms.

You may need to do this twice in a long season, but that is how you have verbena blooms in spring, summer and fall. Leaving those long stems will promote problems and cause the plants to look unsightly.

NEW VARIETIES. This season looks great for us verbena lovers. These new verbenas are perennial in zones seven through 10 under good management, but they are worthy as annual plantings in other zones.

Babylon Series. This series came to us via the breeding of Novartis. Proven Winners purchased the Babylons and introduced Light Blue, Lilac, Pink and Neon Rose. Novartis now has the Babylon White and Babylon Purple.

Babylon is an improvement over Tapiens, with more and larger flowers that appear the entire season.

Tukana Series. Novartis also bred the Tukana Series. Proven Winners offers Tukana Bright Red, Bright Pink and Violet, while Novartis offers Tukana Denim Blue and Salmon Pink. The Tukana flowers are large, and the plant is vigorous and resists disease.

Temari Patio Series. From Proven Winners, these verbenas are more upright, compact and bushy. Colors are electric blue, pink, hot pink and rose.

Other options. Ball Flora Plant introduced the Wildfire Series. The series includes Dark Lavender, which is similar to Biloxi Blue, Purple Blush, Lavender Pink and Rose. Also, look for the Aztec Series, which looks a lot like the Tapiens but a little more upright in habit. With seven colors in the series, there is a shade to suit almost every taste.

The author is a horticulturist with the Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center in Raymond, Miss. E-mail: normanw@ext.msstate.edu.