Few plants reward a little attention as generously as verbena. Drop one into a sunny bed or spill it over the lip of a hanging basket, and you can count on saucer-shaped flower clusters from late spring right through to the first hard frost. The blooms shrug off heat and drought, draw butterflies and hummingbirds from across the yard, and come in nearly every warm shade you could want.
Growing verbena is genuinely easy, but it is not quite “plant it and forget it.” This is a flower that likes a steady rhythm of sun, sharp drainage, and the occasional haircut. Get that rhythm right and you will have months of color from a plant that asks for surprisingly little in return. Here is everything you need to plant it, keep it blooming, and propagate more of it for free.
Annual or perennial depends on your species and your winters
The first thing that trips people up is the question of whether verbena comes back. The honest answer is that it depends entirely on which verbena you have and how cold your winters get.
Most of the flashy bedding and basket plants sold at garden centers are garden verbena (Verbena x hybrida, including the Superbena, Lanai, and Tapien series). These are reliably perennial only in USDA zones 8 through 11. Anywhere colder, gardeners grow them as annuals because they will not survive a hard freeze.
Several species are far tougher:
- Purpletop vervain (Verbena bonariensis) is a short-lived perennial in zones 7 to 11, sending up airy, four-to-five-foot stems topped with small lavender flowers. In zones 4 to 6 it dies in winter but reliably returns from self-sown seed each spring.
- Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) is the cold champion, a true native perennial hardy all the way to zone 3, happy in the moist soil most verbenas dislike.
- Rose verbena and Homestead Purple (Glandularia canadensis) are low, trailing perennials hardy to roughly zones 5 or 6, spreading into a dense carpet of bloom.
- Rigid verbena (Verbena rigida) spreads by underground rhizomes and overwinters in zones 7 to 9.
If you want verbena that returns on its own, match the species to your zone rather than assuming any verbena will come back. And do not confuse any of these with lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora), the lemon-scented culinary shrub that belongs to the same family but a different genus entirely.
Give it all the sun you can and soil that drains fast
Verbena has two non-negotiable demands, and meeting them solves most of the problems people run into later.
The first is sun. Verbena wants at least six hours of direct light a day, and it performs noticeably better with eight to ten. This is a plant for your hottest, brightest spot. Shade is the single most common reason verbena grows leggy and refuses to flower.
The second is drainage. Verbena hates wet feet, and soggy soil is what kills overwintering perennial types far more often than cold does. The soil itself need not be rich; poor, sandy, or loamy ground is perfectly fine. What matters is that water moves through it quickly. If you garden in heavy clay, work in plenty of compost or well-rotted organic matter before planting, or grow verbena in raised beds and containers where you control the drainage.
How to plant verbena
Wait until the danger of frost has passed before setting plants out, usually mid-spring to early summer. Verbena is not frost-hardy when young, and rushing it into cold soil sets it back.
Set transplants so the top of the root ball sits level with the surrounding soil, then space them generously. Most garden verbenas want 12 to 18 inches between plants, while taller bonariensis can go about two feet apart. Crowding cuts off air circulation and invites the powdery mildew that is verbena’s most common disease, so resist the urge to plant tight for instant fullness.
To grow from seed, sow indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost date. Verbena seed needs darkness to germinate, so cover it with a thin layer of soil, and be patient: germination can take up to three weeks, and some varieties need 90 days to reach flowering. Harden seedlings off gradually over a week before transplanting, lengthening their time outdoors by an hour each day. Note that many modern hybrids are non-seeding and will not come true or sometimes will not set seed at all, so for those, buy plants or take cuttings instead.
Watering and feeding for nonstop blooms
Established verbena is genuinely drought-tolerant, but the flowers improve with about an inch of water a week. The trick is consistency without sogginess. Let the soil dry slightly between waterings, then water deeply at the base of the plant rather than overhead. Wet foliage left sitting overnight is an open invitation to fungal disease, so water in the morning when you can.
Container verbena needs closer attention than plants in the ground, because pots dry out fast in summer heat. Check daily during hot spells and water when the top inch of mix feels dry. The classic warning sign is foliage that flags, going limp and drooping like a flag on a windless day. That is your cue to water before the plant crisps.
For feeding, verbena is a heavier eater than most annuals because it flowers so relentlessly. In garden beds, a slow-release fertilizer worked in at planting, plus compost-enriched soil, often carries the season. In containers, feed every two to four weeks with a balanced water-soluble fertilizer. Apply again lightly in spring and after each hard trim. One caution: avoid high-nitrogen feeds, which push lush leaves at the expense of flowers.
Trim it back to keep the color coming
The secret behind a verbena that blooms into autumn is the shears. Verbena tends to grow leggy and bloom in flushes, so a periodic trim is what keeps it full and flowering rather than sprawling and bare.
When a flush of bloom slows, cut the whole plant back by about one-fourth, then water and feed lightly. New flowers typically return within two to three weeks. You can repeat this several times across the season. Some gardeners shear hard once or twice a year and remove up to a third of the plant; others snip more often and take just a few inches at a time. Either approach works, as long as you keep at it.
Most modern hybrids are self-cleaning and do not strictly need deadheading to keep blooming, so trailing types in baskets mainly need a trim when they overrun their space. The exception worth noting is Verbena bonariensis, whose dropped seed is the very thing that brings it back in cold climates. If you want it to self-sow, leave the spent flowers; if it is already volunteering too freely, deadhead before the seed dries and scatters.
Make more verbena from cuttings
This is where most growing guides stop short, and it is the easiest way to multiply your favorite variety or carry a tender hybrid through winter where it would otherwise die.
Take softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer for the best rooting, choosing non-flowering side shoots about four inches long. Cut in the morning when the stems are firmest, trim just below a leaf node, and strip the lower leaves. Dip the cut end in rooting hormone, then insert several cuttings around the edge of a small pot filled with gritty, free-draining compost.
Slip the pot inside a clear plastic bag to hold humidity and set it somewhere warm and bright but out of scorching direct sun. Roots usually appear within about six weeks; once you see white roots at the drainage holes, pot each cutting up on its own.
To overwinter tender verbena, take cuttings in late summer and keep the young plants somewhere frost-free and bright over winter, around 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Small potted cuttings overwinter far more reliably than digging up and lifting large established plants, and they give you a fresh supply to replace anything frost takes.
Why your verbena is not blooming, and how to fix it
A healthy-looking verbena that simply will not flower is the most common complaint, and the cause is almost always one of a short list.
Too little sun is the usual culprit. If the plant has grown tall, thin, and leafy with few flowers, it is reaching for light. Move it to a spot with six or more hours of direct sun; verbena transplants well, so do not hesitate to relocate it.
Too much nitrogen is the next suspect. A fertilizer heavy in nitrogen drives leafy growth and suppresses flowers, so switch to a bloom-promoting formula. A cramped root zone can also stall flowering, so if a container plant has stopped, move it into a larger pot. And if the plant is simply tired and leggy mid-season, a hard trim of up to a third, followed by a light feed, almost always triggers a fresh flush within a few weeks.
Pests and diseases to watch for
Verbena is largely trouble-free, and the problems that do appear usually trace back to a violation of those two basic rules, sun and drainage.
Powdery mildew is the most frequent disease, showing up as a dusty white coating on the leaves. Prevent it by spacing plants for good air movement, watering at the base rather than overhead, and avoiding evening watering that leaves foliage damp overnight. Yellowing leaves, weak flowering, and root rot all point to poor drainage; the fix is to improve drainage or move the plant to a better-draining spot or raised bed.
On the insect side, spider mites are the main nuisance, leaving fine webbing and stippled, discolored leaves, especially in hot, dry conditions. Aphids, whiteflies, and the occasional caterpillar or leaf miner may also turn up. A strong jet of water or a spray of insecticidal soap usually handles infestations. Skip the harsher chemical insecticides, which harm the pollinators verbena works so hard to attract, and remember that a few insects on a healthy plant are part of a balanced garden, not an emergency.
Where verbena shines in the garden
Verbena earns its place because it is so versatile. The trailing types are made for window boxes, hanging baskets, and the edges of mixed containers, where they spill over the rim in sheets of color. Pair them with other sun-loving annuals that share the same appetite for heat and bright light, such as calibrachoa, lantana, and petunias, or combine an upright verbena with a trailing one for layered interest in a single pot.
In the ground, low-growing verbenas make a dense flowering groundcover, while the tall, see-through stems of Verbena bonariensis weave beautifully through cottage borders and butterfly gardens. Whatever form you choose, give it sun, sharp drainage, and an occasional trim, and verbena will hand you color from spring until frost for very little work in return.