Verbena
Description. How many flowers are among those that give us beauty, while remaining little-known. Verbena is the same. She was known in ancient times, but as a medicinal plant and now she is familiar to a few. Gardeners drew attention to it in the XIX century, when several species of verbena from tropical and subtropical regions of America were brought in. It can be assumed that when these species were grown in orchards, they were re-sprayed and a new species appeared - verbena hybrid. This is a perennial plant cultivated as a summer plant. The plant is strongly branched up to 45 cm in height with tetrahedral stems and opposite leaves of elongated triangular shape, along the edges dentate. All the green parts are covered with hard gray hairs. The roots are fibrous. Flowers are carnation-like, fragrant, collected 30-50 in shields with a diameter of 6-10 cm.
Color white, pink, fiery red, carmine, light blue, deep-violet, monochrome or with a different color eye. Two groups are known:
large-flowered - plants erect, height 40-45 cm, or creeping;compact - the plants are recumbent with the ascending ends of the stems.
Plants attracted attention primarily bright juicy colors, especially red, blue and purple. Varieties differ in height( 20-50 cm), bush structure and flower size. In addition to this species, we can name several species of verbena that are used for decoration and especially for balconies and vases. This is the verbena Canadian and verbena hard. The first species blooms with light raspberry flowers, the second - lilac-pink. For bouquets is good verbena buenos Aires, which grows to 1 - 1.2 m and has flowers of an amethyst color.
All kinds of verbena are cold-resistant and drought-resistant. The best places for them - the balconies from the south and south-east side, razbatki or vases near the house on the sunny side. The bright inflorescences of verbena are good for bouquets, especially in water they last about 10 days. The low-grown pure-grained varieties are perfectly suited for creating curbs along the paths, along the edge of prefabricated flower gardens and plants. For group plantings, it is better to use samples of the same color. To the soils, the verbena are undemanding and do not tolerate fresh organic fertilizers at all, giving many shoots, but without flowers.
Varieties of verbena hybrid
Large-flowered
Defiant - flowers are red, blooms from the beginning of July, plant height 30 cm
Julia - flowers violet-purple with white eyes, blossoms in June, plant height 40 cm Cardinal - flowers bright red, flowers from July, plant height 40 cm
Etna - flowers red with white eyes, blooms from May, plant height 50 cm Compact
Amethyst - flowers blue, flowers since July, plant height 30 cm
Dazler - flowers brightred, blossoms in junenot, height of the plant 25 cm
Crystal - flowers are white-white, blooms from the end of June, plant height 20 cm Pink Delight - flowers pink, blossoms since July, plant height 25 cm
Splendor -purple-purple flowers with whiteeyeball, blooms from July, plant height 20 cm
Cultivation. All kinds of verbena are perennials grown as flyers. Propagate by seeds, sowing them in March for seedlings. Seeds( they are collected gradually, as the faded inflorescence is drilled, the germination lasts 1-2 years), they rise long( 10-20 days) and are unfriendly. To accelerate germination, it is desirable to soak them in a growth stimulator( for example, in a humate).Verbena also well cuttings. Shoots are very sensitive to excess moisture, so they are sprayed only when the soil dries up. Seedlings dive only a month later. The open ground is planted in the middle of May at a distance of 20-25 cm. Verbena flowers bloom in June and blossom all summer and early autumn, transferring frosts to -2-3 ° C.Mineral fertilizing both in seedlings and in a permanent place helps to obtain powerful plants and abundant flowering.
Diseases. Verbena is affected by bacterial wilt, black stalk, root and stem rot and leaves blotch caused by fungi and nematodes.