Verbena bonariensis - plant among Milkweed plants?

[maryeleek]

Need help with Verbena bonariensis plants.

I've not ever seen a Verbena bonariensis plant growing but I'm considering growing it mixed in with milkweed next year. My thought is that the Verbena bonariensis reportedly blooms on tall thin stalks and is loved by the butterflies so it seems it would probably stick it's blooms up above the milkweed. I just don't know what the size the base of the plant looks like. We experience hot, humid summers and I don't want to cut off air flow around the milkweed plants.

Anyone ever grown this plant mixed in with Milkweed plants?

Mary

[Mona Miller]

I'm in zone 7 here in Virginia. Our winters can get down to 10 degrees or lower. The Brazilian verbena either dies or winters over and does seed itself around. It can get pretty crowded. It has crowded out most of the Bright Lights Cosmos that I planted with it. Mine gets about two and half feet tall, but has a branching habit.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/141/
This website has information.

Apparently it is a possible host plant for the common buckeye.

[lvtgrdn]

Hi Mary,
The base of verbena bonariensis is not that big here, where it is not a perennial. It reseeds freely, but stays pulled out, so is not invasive. I have had some live over the winter, but the base didn't get much bigger. I'm new to growing common milkweed, but I'm thinking that sounds like a good idea. I don't know if the verbena is as tall as milkweed, though. I have a blog, where I have some photos of my verbena, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put a link to it here. If I find out it's OK, and you are interested, I'll give you the address. The name of the blog is A Corner Garden, and it is a Blogspot blog, so you could find it by doing a search.

[Mona Miller]

I'm sure it is okay to post your blog. I think they frown on people trying to sell stuff. I have my Brazil Verbena planted with Bright Lights Cosmos. The orange, red, and yellow of the Cosmos go well with the purple Verbena.

[maryeleek]

Hi Mary,
The base of verbena bonariensis is not that big here, where it is not a perennial. It reseeds freely, but stays pulled out, so is not invasive. I have had some live over the winter, but the base didn't get much bigger. I'm new to growing common milkweed, but I'm thinking that sounds like a good idea. I don't know if the verbena is as tall as milkweed, though. I have a blog, where I have some photos of my verbena, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put a link to it here. If I find out it's OK, and you are interested, I'll give you the address. The name of the blog is A Corner Garden, and it is a Blogspot blog, so you could find it by doing a search.

Hi lvtgrdn,

I was able to locate your blog and so enjoyed visiting your gardens. What a treat! You've done a great job with sharing your gardens via your blog. I found the photos of your Verbena bonariensis and now have a much better idea of the plants structure when growing among other plants. The seeds I started this year are now planted out in my bed where I planted them among newly planted coneflowers. In front of the coneflowers I have tropical milkweed and to one side is my large planting of Salvia B&B, which the hummers adore. I'm rather limited in sunny spots so this became my first year planting site to try growing this plant.

I also recently planted a very large bed of swamp milkweed and I may try growing the Verbena bonariensis among it, too, to provide more nectaring blooms. Most of my plantings are directed toward host and nectaring plants for the butterflies and hummingbirds.

My thanks again for the invitation to visit your lovely gardens.

Mary

[lvtgrdn]

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad my photos were some help to you, Mary. I love black and blue salvia, too. We don't get many hummingbirds, but I did see one a couple years ago on one.

Mona, I'm glad to know it would be OK to post the link to my blog. I don't need to at this point, since Mary found it. A lot of bloggers advertise, but I blog for fun, and don't want to advertise. I've had email offers from places to put links to their businesses, but don't want to endorse any companies that may do things differently than I do.

I'd love to live in zone 7. I don't think I'd want the hot summers of zones 8 to 10.

Oh, and I am continuing to thin the verbena in the veggie garden. I don't remember it coming up so thickly before!

[Mona Miller]

Well, today wasn't so good. It was hot and humid. In the 90s. Even the butterflies need to take shelter on a day like that.

[pjvanee]

I plant the Brazilian Verbena (Verbena bonariensis) between my pepper plants, which are very close to my butterfly garden. The verbena gets along very well with the peppers, and I plan to add them to my milkweed patch this year. Some years the plants survive our Buffalo, NY winters, and some years I need to rely on the self-seeded babies. They also transplant very well, so I am able to share them with friends. Brazilian verbena has officially become the best butterfly attracting plant in my garden.

A few times every summer I get a male monarch butterfly who gets very territorial over the verbena/pepper patch. He patrols the area closely and chases away all the other monarchs, even the females. Interestingly he lets other butterflies species feed on the verbena. Just when I start to get fed up with his bullying, he moves on.

Has anyone else seen male monarchs act so territorial over a food source?

[Mona Miller]

Not that territorial--chasing females away. They usually mate with the females. I've seen them chasing birds and other butterflies.