Getting it to bloom

Why won't my Garden verbena bloom? (and how to make it flower)

Also called Garden verbena, Hybrid verbena (Verbena × hybrida).

More about garden verbena

About Garden verbena

Verbena × hybrida · also called Garden verbena, Hybrid verbena · flowering

A vigorous tender perennial grown as an annual, garden verbena thrives in full sun with excellent drainage. It produces clusters of small flowers in a wide colour range from spring through frost. Deadhead regularly to maintain continuous bloom and pinch back stems to encourage branching and prevent legginess.

Plant type: flowering

Watch for — Legginess and sparse flowering: Caused by insufficient light or failure to deadhead and pinch. Cut stems back by one-third mid-season to rejuvenate growth and restore compact form and flower production.

The reasons garden verbena isn't blooming

Almost every non-blooming garden verbena traces back to one of these, roughly in order of how common they are:

Too little sun — most of these need full sun (or very bright light) to flower well; shade gives leaves, not blooms.
Too much nitrogen feed, driving lush foliage at the expense of flowers (very common with general or lawn feeds).
The plant has not been deadheaded, so it stops flowering once it sets seed.
Irregular watering — drought or waterlogging at the budding stage makes buds abort.
It is still too young or was checked by a transplant and is rebuilding before flowering.

Feeding garden verbena a high-nitrogen general feed and growing it in too little sun — you get a big leafy plant and almost no flowers.

The fix — how to get garden verbena to flower

Maximise sun. Give garden verbena the sunniest spot you have — for most bedding and fruiting plants, more direct light directly means more flowers.
Switch the feed. Move off high-nitrogen feeds and use a higher-potassium "bloom" or tomato-type feed as it comes into flower.
Deadhead regularly. Remove spent flowers often to keep it producing more rather than stopping to set seed.
Water consistently. Keep moisture even through budding and flowering — drought-then-flood swings make buds drop.

Light and feeding do most of the heavy lifting here. Dial in the spot with the light guide for garden verbena and get the feeding right with the garden verbena fertilising schedule — the wrong feed (too much nitrogen) is one of the most common silent reasons a healthy plant makes leaves instead of flowers.

Bloom season and what to expect

Garden verbena flowers across its growing season (mostly summer) and, kept fed and deadheaded, can bloom for many weeks or right up to frost.

Post-bloom care so it flowers again

Deadhead, keep feeding lightly, and many will rebloom; collect seed from the best plants at the end of the season if you want to grow them again.

For everything else this plant needs day to day, see the full garden verbena care brief and its watering schedule — a stressed, badly watered plant rarely has the energy to flower at all.

Garden verbena blooming — frequently asked questions

Why won't my garden verbena flower?

Garden verbena blooms on the season's growth given enough sun, warmth and the right feed — there is no cold or photoperiod trick, just good growing conditions and a bloom-leaning feed. The most common reason it is not happening: Too little sun — most of these need full sun (or very bright light) to flower well; shade gives leaves, not blooms.

How do I make garden verbena bloom?

Give garden verbena the sunniest spot you have — for most bedding and fruiting plants, more direct light directly means more flowers. Move off high-nitrogen feeds and use a higher-potassium "bloom" or tomato-type feed as it comes into flower.

When does garden verbena normally bloom?