I'm in love with Verbena, and this year I've finally had a small success with a few little seedlings by virtue of the fact that I planted them in a big empty patch of dirt at the base of my lemon tree! Flowers that consist of clusters of tiny blooms always seem to be amongst my favorites, and verbena especially just says summer!
While you can use Verbena in a planter mixed with a bunch of other species, it's really at it's best as a ground cover where it can spread out and charm all those that pass by!
Depending on where you live, Verbena, which loves full sun, may or may not be a gentle perennial, though they are drought resistant, self seeding (a great one!) and are often found in butterfly gardens! And Verbena will bloom all summer long, so with a good three months left of gardening, why not add a few of these little beauties to your garden?
PS: Verbena, also known as Vervain, has a very rich history both as an herb and in making liquor as well as being mentioned in many writings of all kinds. I quickly read this info on Wikipedia, so thought I'd pass it along in case the history of horticulture interests you! It is interesting to know a little bit about where your plants really came from, right?
P.P.S: In case you're wondering about that pipe running through the photo above, that's our drip watering system. The pipe is supposed to be a tiny black pipe, but Amos the egg seller from a local farm didn't really know that when he offered to put a system in for us last summer. I almost tore the whole thing out due to the lack of aesthetic, but am really glad now that I didn't.....it's huge time and water saver! Oh and by the way, drip watering was invented in Israel!
