Detailed Guide to Planting Verbena and Precautions

People who like verbena usually want to bring their favorite plant home, and this is a trait shared by people in general. However, if you want verbena to successfully take root and bloom in your home, enthusiasm alone is not enough; you also need some planting skills and experience.

How to Plant Verbena

1. Prepare verbena seeds. In fact, you do not need to buy them specially. If you see some in a nearby flowerbed or at a friend's house where they have been grown, just pick some seeds. They are relatively fresh and very convenient. But a reminder: you can try sowing verbena, but there is no guarantee that it will germinate successfully every time. The reason will be mentioned later.

2. Before sowing, it is best to keep it away from light and soak it in warm water for 24 hours. The sowing time is usually spring or autumn, and the best germination temperature is around 20 degrees. Its growing temperature is 16 degrees. Prepare a flower pot and soil. For the soil, it is best to use peat soil mixed with coarse sand, leaf mold, and so on. After sowing the seeds, do not cover them with too much soil.

3. Be mentally prepared, because its germination rate is not high, possibly only around 50%. So when many flower enthusiasts say that after sowing there was either no sprouting at all or very few sprouts, and that perhaps only one or two out of ten seeds germinated, this is also normal.

4. In summer it grows relatively slowly, but it will still bloom. At this time, it can be placed on the side of a balcony. Although it usually likes sunlight very much, if it is slightly shaded, the leaves look even more emerald green and beautiful. Because summer temperatures are high, remember to water frequently.

5. It blooms less during the rainy season, so do not let water accumulate in the soil in the flower pot. If there is too much standing water and drainage is poor, it is easy for the roots to rot. Therefore, be careful to place it inside the balcony, in a place where rain cannot reach it. Usually, just keep the potting soil moist; if the air is humid, that is even better.

6. Usually, check the soil in the pot. If it has become compacted, use a shovel to loosen it so that the soil is soft and breathable and drains better. Then apply some organic fertilizer. In this way it will bloom, or bloom more. In winter it is relatively cold-tolerant, and there is no problem above zero degrees. Basically, here in Central China, even when it snows, it will not be damaged by freezing when left outdoors.

Verbena Planting Methods and Precautions

1. Soil

Verbena does not have very high requirements for soil, but you must ensure that the soil for verbena is fertile, loose, and also has strong drainage, so as to ensure good growth of verbena. Generally, a neutral soil with relatively high moisture can be chosen. For potting substrate, it is best to choose culture soil that is loose, fertile, and has good drainage. Before planting, apply decomposed organic fertilizer and some superphosphate at the bottom of the pot as base fertilizer.

2. Watering

Verbena is not drought-tolerant, so its moisture must be maintained. However, when watering verbena, note that its root system is relatively shallow, so water gently to avoid the soil around the roots being washed away by the water.

3. Light

Verbena loves sunlight very much, but a little appropriate shading can be done to prevent direct sunlight from scorching the leaves.

4. Temperature

Verbena relatively prefers to survive in a high-temperature environment. Its growing temperature is generally 15-25 degrees Celsius, and in summer the temperature can be controlled below 34°C. In winter, the temperature for verbena must not be lower than 5 degrees Celsius, otherwise it will freeze to death.

5. Fertilizing

Verbena likes fertilizer and, like other plants, can follow the principle of “apply light fertilizer frequently, use small amounts but more times, and provide complete nutrition.”

6. Pruning

Verbena has a relatively long flowering period, so before it blooms, you can pinch it back once or twice.

Verbena Transplanting Methods

1. Potting

Before the young seedlings are put into pots, first make a drainage layer. The specific method is to first place coarse-grained substrate about 2 cm thick at the bottom of the pot as a drainage layer, then add a layer of base fertilizer. The fertilizer can be completely decomposed organic fertilizer, also 1-2 cm thick, and then cover it with another layer of substrate, also about 1-2 cm thick. Finally, place the plant in. The last layer of substrate is to separate the fertilizer from the plant roots so as to avoid burning the roots.

2. Substrate That Should Be Chosen for Potting

For the substrate used for potting, one of the following can be chosen. One is garden soil mixed with furnace slag, with the two in a ratio of about 3:1; another option is peat plus furnace slag plus ceramsite, with the three in a ratio of 2:2:1. There are also many other potting substrates to choose from. Just choose according to everyone's preference. After potting, water once thoroughly and maintain it in a slightly shaded environment for one week.

3. Transplanting Young Seedlings

Transplanting young seedlings is another way to transplant verbena. For this method, we need to first dig the planting holes, then spread a layer of base fertilizer at the bottom, about 5 cm thick, cover it with a layer of soil, and finally place the seedlings in. After placing the seedlings in, backfill the soil to cover the root system, then water once thoroughly.

How Many Times Does Verbena Bloom in a Year

Verbena's flowering period is very long, but to what extent? It can actually bloom from May each year all the way to November, defeating nearly 90% or more of flowers in terms of flowering period. Then there is another thing that may also surprise everyone, because a period as long as 7 months is only one flowering, so it blooms only once a year.

As for the planting experience of verbena, on the one hand we can learn by looking up information online, and at the same time we can also communicate with other verbena growers and accumulate experience during ordinary planting. In short, if you care for verbena like a primary school student observing plant growth, you will definitely get rich rewards.