Lilac verbena

Verbena lilacina ‘De La Mina’

Description

In recent years the Lilac verbena has become widely recognized for being a premier butterfly attracting plant for gardens throughout the Inland Empire. Part of this is due to its long flowering cycle from spring into summer. Native to Cedros Island off Baja California, it grows into a loosely mounding perennial, 2-3 ft. tall and 2-3 ft. wide, occasionally wider.

One cultivar, V. l. ‘De La Mina’ is a popular cultivar due to its very uniform shape and deeper purple flowers. It grows best in sunny exposures, adapts to a variety of soil types with good drainage and can be clipped in fall to manage size and shape.

Plant Type: Perennial, Native
Foliage Character: Evergreen
Habit: Mounding
Growth Rate: Fast
Foliage Color: Medium green
Flower Color: Purple
Flower Season: Summer
Soil Adaptations: Well-draining soil
Exposure Adaptations: All day sun
Function: Attracts butterflies, Wildlife value, Small spaces, Flowering accent plant, Banks
Height: 2 ft. – 3 ft.
Width: 2 ft. – 4 ft.

Watering Schedule: Low 1

For most situations, we recommend watering deeply every 3-4 weeks after establishment.

Learn how to apply this watering schedule to your landscape on our How to water waterwise and California native plants page.

Important Notes

These are general guidelines. Always observe and adjust as necessary for your landscape.
If it rains over 1” you will likely not need to water for at least another 3-4 weeks. Before watering again, check the soil. It should be significantly dry at least 4” below the soil surface before watering.
If you have a “smart timer” or weather sensitive irrigation controller, it is best not to use the automatic weather adjusting features for plants in this category. While very useful for watering higher water demanding plants, those in this category have natural drought adaptations which mean they do not need to be watered more in warm weather. Using the weather adjusting features will result in either overwatering in summer or underwatering in fall and spring.
It is important to group plants with the same water needs together in the landscape to avoid needing to over or under water plants when running your irrigation system.

Prune back about 1/3 of the leafy part of the stems each at least once a year to maintain nice form and leaf quality and to encourage new growth. This is best done after flowering in the fall or winter either with a pruner, or much more quickly with a manual hedge shear, cutting back into a nice roundish dome-like shape. Plants will rapidly begin to regrow. If desired, spent flower stems can be removed through the flowering season. this may extend the flowering season, but can be quite a lot of work if you have multiple plants. In many inland gardens, cutting back twice per year can be optimal for garden performance: Cut back once in late spring / early summer after spring blooms start to fade. Plants will grow back rapidly and rebloom. Then cut back in fall. It is best to avoid a significant cut back during the peak hot summer months if possible (S). References