{"id":7823,"date":"2020-06-06T14:58:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T14:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/?p=7823"},"modified":"2020-06-06T14:58:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T14:58:01","slug":"plant-a-day-2020-day-156-verbena-bonariensis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/06\/plant-a-day-2020-day-156-verbena-bonariensis\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant-A-Day 2020 (Day 156) Verbena bonariensis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Much touted by Christopher Lloyd as a keystone perennial in his Dixter borders, I started some of these plants from seed in 2018 for the memory garden. Many of them germinated and grew, but I lost a lot of them over the winter. The two that were left have been superstars, though, and they are starting to seed around a bit, so I should have voluntary V. bonariensis for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many things to like about this plant. It is tall\u2013gets to about five feet for me, with strong stems and deep green color. The tiny flowers still manage to be showy in their massed umbels and they last for months, opening a few florets at a time over the summer and fall. This plant is also a pollinator favorite and one of the few plants I can count on to attract the Skipper butterflies that I love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n