Updated: 30th April 2021
Bees and butterflies love Verbena bonariensis, and so do I. It’s also known as ‘purple top’, 'South American vervain', 'tall verbena' or ‘Argentinian vervain’. I actually find it to be very versatile in a garden, including small ones like mine (as I will explain) and it provides food for bees and butterflies from summer through to the autumn.
Bees and butterflies don’t mind sharing the dainty, tubular, nectar-filled clumps of flower heads, and it’s not unusual to see many butterflies and bees at once. It’s not necessarily easy to capture perfectly focused photographs of these occasions, however - I know, I have tried, and have never yet managed to do the lovely scene justice. It seems a gathering of butterflies and bees on a patch of purple top, are not really interested in remaining still for a few seconds whilst I snap my piccies.
Apart from
attracting bees and butterflies, another great thing about Verbena bonariensis
is that it’s easy to grow, and relatively free of diseases.
I first experimented with Verbena bonariensis several years ago. I sowed seeds into pots and kept them under cover in a temporary polythene ‘greenhouse’. Back then, we didn’t have a greenhouse made from glass, so I was doing the best I could with a metal frame with a fitted plastic cover over it. It worked a treat, and I soon had young plants to transfer to the front garden.
The few tall,
very slender stems didn’t look out of place, despite the front
garden being even smaller than our garden at the back. In fact, the Verbena added an appealing ‘softness’
to the border.
I was very pleased with the plants which we had in place for several years. They attracted bumble bees, honey bees, and a variety of butterflies: peacock, small tortoiseshell, comma, white, and red admiral.
Purple top eventually begins to look straggly with age even if you keep cutting it back in the early spring, but unfortunately, following an especially harsh snowfall, the plants were in a sorry state, so I removed them completely (that same year, a fabulous lavender was also ruined).
I had not got around to replacing the Verbena, partly due to redesigning that area of the garden, however the plants obviously self-seeded, because this year, new ones are showing through the rockery. I’m pleased to see them, although I shall have to move them to a more suitable space in the spring.
If you’d like to attract bees and butterflies to your garden, you can follow my method, by simply sowing a few seeds in compost in the autumn. Place them in a greenhouse or propagator. Plant them out the following year into a sunny position.
Here are more images of beautiful butterflies feeding on purple top - you may attract some or all of them - or even more species:
Verbena
bonariensis looks wonderful in a flower border, especially among other cottage
garden flowers. You can grow it toward
the back, or plant it in a large swathe at the front.
Verbena
bonariensis would also look great in a wild, informal garden, and yet it could
also make a design statement if incorporated within a more structured, formal
layout.
I saw a
wonderful border full of grasses that had been designed with butterflies in
mind. Verbena bonariensis had been added,
and of course, bees were attracted too. The
splashes of purple were welcome among the greens and browns, and didn’t look
out of place.
If you have
a wall or wish to add softness or feeling of ‘airiness’ to the flower border, again,
this is a great plant to consider. It’s
a good for contrasting against bulky or
heavy structures. Add in the butterflies
and bees, and you’re sure to have an attractive display in your garden!
COPYRIGHT 2010 - 2023: WWW.BUZZABOUTBEES.NET
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.