Pentas, verbena, and daisies ...

19 years ago

This year I planted 'Butterfly' Pentas in my front flowerbeds in front of my 'Becky' Shasta daisies and put purple & cranberry verbena in front of the pentas. My nursery uses generic tags so I'm a bit lost as to the care of them. I assume that you deadhead the pentas, but I'm not quite sure how. What I mean is, since the "flower" is really a cluster of tiny flowers, once the tiny flowers are spent do you pinch the whole thing off? This is what I think is right, but I don't want to end up with no flowers if I'm wrong.

Also, the verbena - is there anything at all I do with those? Since the flowers are so tiny I can't imagine deadheading them, but all I know about them is that they spread out like a groundcover. Should I know anything else?

As for my daisies, my new (nosey) neighbor told me I was deadheading those wrong. So, do you just pinch (or snip) off the daisy head or do you cut the entire stem back?

Also in general, is there anything that I can do to really make my pentas and verbena get big and thrive?

Thanks in advance for the help!

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Comments (2)

lindac
19 years ago
Water them when they are dry, before they wilt.
When you have flowers with a compound bloom...many little flowers in one big head, you cut the whole head of bloom off....watching of course for where the next flower will come from.
The daisys, cut the stem so that you don't have a bunch of ugly stems sticking up.
You also might top dress with a little bagged composted manure.
Linda C
gardenofeden777
19 years ago
Hi, I started gardening 1 year ago. But even though I don't have alot of experience I do know a little about verbena. That was one of my first plants that I planted. Mine loves water, and it blooms in flushes. One of mine is 6 feet by 3 feet. And the whole plant starts blooming almost simultaneously. It also quits blooming simultaneously. It is like it is resting, then it blooms again. Luckily I did photograph it in bloom. It is stunning in full bloom. Now on the subject of pentas hum... I could use some help there as well. I bought 2 pink and they just aren't happy atall (southern jargon). I just found this site, and as soon as I figure out how to post pics, I will put the verbena pics on first.

Happy Gardening!
Rena'
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