Plant Care Library

Other Names:  Vervain

Group/Class:  Lanai Compact Series

Brand:  Syngenta

Description:

A beautiful compact, trailing series with superb disease resistance; stunning performance in hanging baskets, containers and garden beds; bright, vibrant colored blooms add visual interest all season long; deadhead to encourage new growth

Ornamental Features

Lanai® Compact Red Star Verbena features showy clusters of red star-shaped flowers with white stripes at the ends of the stems from early spring to mid fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its small serrated pointy leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Lanai® Compact Red Star Verbena is an herbaceous annual with a trailing habit of growth, eventually spilling over the edges of hanging baskets and containers. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep. Trim off the flower heads after they fade and die to encourage more blooms late into the season. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Lanai® Compact Red Star Verbena is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting
• Hanging Baskets

Planting & Growing

Lanai® Compact Red Star Verbena will grow to be only 6 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 14 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. This fast-growing annual will normally live for one full growing season, needing replacement the following year.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Lanai® Compact Red Star Verbena is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor containers and hanging baskets. Because of its trailing habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.