Verbena 'Imagination': An Experiment in Overwintering Tender Verbenas

      Verbena is a genus of mostly American origins. It has become much more popular over the past several years, particularly in regard to the breeding of bedding material. A genus renowned for its drought tolerance and love of xeric conditions it's found itself center stage as the new poster boy for summer bedding plants alongside classics such as petunias and zinnias. Texas heat certainty is a killer, summers can range from hot and dry too hot and humid, conditions that cause many more traditional bedding plants to turn up the ghost. Verbenas, however, relish such hellish arrangements. Verbena x hybrida, is the most familiar of the genus, being the one of bedding fame. A mat forming plant, older cultivars had some grace and still held a loose naturalistic look weariest newer varieties have become rather blocky and are artificial in appearance. This gardener thinks not and retches at the site of these cubes.  Recent years have seen a new player enter the bedding plant world, Enter, Verbena tenuisecta, a southwest native that brings to the table deep purples and a looser natural habit that other bedding Verbenas have lost as of late.
       V. tenuisecta 'Imagination' is a seed strain breed in St. Louis finding its way to commence by Parks Seeds. This selection features darker purple flower and a more upright yet still spreading habit than the species. Grown with the intention of bedding schemes in my own garden we don't do bedding rather I aim for a more naturalistic style. With this in mind its habit makes it a good plant to act as filler in containers. Its soft ferny filigree foliage softens the edges and blurs the other plants together adding to that naturalistic feel. In my own garden it has found a home in terracotta pot where it will spill over the edges making the pot look older and more worn. It grows alongside another southwestern native, Dasylirion  wheeleri, the two combined help in bringing the desert to suburbia.
         Growing it is relatively easy with germination taking place within 15 days if the seed is fresh. Sow the seeds on the surface as they germinate better with light, and gently cover with vermiculate. Germination was steady but plants are known to become leggy if shaded, sadly speaking from experience here. The solution to this was to simply pinch the leading shoot resulting in new more bushy basal growth. My own Verbena was a bit neglected but neither the less, they are slowly but surely taking off. This plant flowers in its first year from sowing. Since these Verbenas were sown and planted pretty late, late summer to be precise, in the season I most likely will be taking cuttings to ensure that this cultivar survives in this garden. This plant is a perennial but since it was breed for bedding schemes it can be treated as an annual.
     This is the first of what I hope becomes the start of a deeper exploration of the genus Verbena. Many Verbenas are reputed to be tender, so that in the coming year I shall be running a trial to check hardiness. Verbena ' Imagination' is the forerunner and hopeful success to this upcoming trial. Watch this space.