Live and Learn

I titled this week's post "Live and Learn" but when you see the photo you'll wonder if I did learn anything.  In the past I have used verbenas a lot in the containers - they make great spillers.  But.....I forget that they have their own special set of issues they bring to the table -- or pot in this case.  One of them is spider mites.  Give the plants a long, hot, dry spell and the spider mites comes to feast on the weakened plant.  Since I use a systemic insecticide that didn't worry me as much.  Long, hot, dry spells are are a different problem alone for the plant - hopefully regular watering will help there.

What my memory didn't bring back up was that verbenas need deadheading!!!  Without regular grooming the plants won't bloom as vigorously.  With one or two containers it isn't much trouble to nip away the spent flowers, but with the large number I have in the city it is a chore. 

The flowers of Verbena Empress Flair White are worthy of using though.  Check out the fresh, full blooms here:

Unfortunately there is another aspect of this variety that I'm not happy with and that is how the spent blooms progress to seed head.  Yuck!!

The old, brownish petals are easy enough to remove by just shaking or brushing the flower head.  Easy enough to do if, again, you only have a few pots. I'll keep after these guys for this season but I have finally "learned" -- no more verbenas for the city pots. 

All that said, please don't give up on verbenas as a whole.  There are many other varieties that are real work horses and give great color.  One that I have used in the past is Biloxi Blue - strong grower with nice self cleaning habits. 

For now - I'm headed into town to tend to these fussy little guys.