Verveine

[Chrissie]

So I'm sitting there, gazing at last year's verveine plants (which were wonderful) and wondering if they are ALL dead or if they are the sort of plant which surprises you by suddenly reappearing from the roots....they're not in my English plant books.  Anybody got any idea??

Chrissie )81)

[Wicce]

Hi Chrissie... your plant is a marguerite.  There are loads of different sorts - some annual and some perennial.  Thta one looks like a perennial - you should see some dark green leaves at the base.  They spread and grow amazingly quickly and are very hardy.

 

Mary

[Pushkin]

Chrissie,

 I think Verveine is Verbena in English and yes, they are beautiful. They are treated as an annual.

Sue

[Chrissie]

Thanks for the replies - there are certainly no signs of leaves or any other form of life, at the base yet!  I suspect I'll have to go shopping....

Chrissie

[Liz]

It is Verbena and they are nearly always treated as annuals. If you bought them as bedding plants this is almost certainly what they will be. There are some perennials though - one is a rather tall, airy, purply coloured plant that is rather trendy and should come up every year.

Having said they are generally treated as annuals I notice mine in a pot from last year has leaves so it might be worth hanging on for a couple of weeks just to be sure.

Liz (29)

[St Bernard]

Having read the advice I decided against lifting my dead looking verbena and adding it to the bonfire site. Today, I decided that enough was enough and plunged in the fork to lift the sad looking thing when sudenly I noticed a new growth at the base. My plant had survived the frosts . Patience has got its just reward - just.

 

Jan Laury

[Monsieurmousseux]

I think Wicce is being misled by your avatar photo, Chrissie, which does look like a marguerite to me.

Since there are numerous kinds of verbena, could you do an image search on Google and post a picture of your plant (as it was last year)?

The most common ones at the moment seem to be the Tapien type, which are generally grown as annuals, although some of ours have actually survived the -10ºC we experienced during February.

And yes, the weather on the 32/82 border is foul, too, though as Patf said, things are really zooming along, and the rain and cool weather are certainly helping the new fruit trees we planted to settle in.

[Mpprh]

Hi

Verveine (sp) is a hardy perennial in warm climates (we took our cuttings in Marakesh).

It survived winter 2003, but is looking rather sad so far this year.

My wife uses the leaves for infusions.

Peter

 

[Monsieurmousseux]

Ah, but it's not quite as easy as that ...

There are over 200 kinds of verbena, both hardy and tender perennials. The further north you are, the more likely it is that you will grow it as an annual.

Chrissie will find a lot more info here: http://www.botany.com/verbena.html