Verbena hybrida Estrella Merlot Star.

Verbena 'Estrella Merlot Star' has vivid and contrasting flowers from late spring until frost. They are marked with a cream-white star that stands out against a dark pink wine-coloured background, and are grouped in round clusters at the end of stems that remain short over the months. This vigorous and resistant variety has a semi-trailing habit that is particularly compact, making it an ideal variety for pots and hanging baskets. Grown as an annual, it will create a dynamic display when planted in a flower pot or flower bed. It is a generous, floriferous, and undemanding plant that tolerates drought, watering neglect, and poor soils, but requires full sun.

Verbena Estrella Merlot Star belongs to the Verbenaceae family and is a horticultural hybrid whose ancestors lived in the warm regions of South America. The 'Estrella' series, developed in Germany, is distinguished by its vibrant and pure flower colours, and stems that do not elongate indefinitely, appearing leafless and graceless in autumn. On the contrary, this plant forms a compact and slightly trailing clump, rather stocky, 25 to 30 cm (10 to 12in) in height, spreading about 35 to 45 cm (14 to 18in). It tirelessly produces flexible and erect stems, from early summer until the first frost, which bear beautiful dense and round clusters composed of fairly large flowers, with a very dark pink colour and marked by a beautiful radiant 5-branched star in cream-white. The shape of the fully open flowers resembles that of phlox. This perennial plant succumbs to frost, so it is grown as an annual in our climates, thanks to its rapid growth.

Garden verbenas are truly easy plants to grow, suffering more from excess water and food than from occasional neglect. They overflow from hanging baskets, slip between other upright plants in flower pots or planters, hiding their base without being affected by their presence. They are also very beautiful in rock gardens, quickly filling in the spaces left by damage caused by a too harsh winter. Create a beautiful hanging display by pairing the Estrella Merlot Star verbena with a white geranium, a purple-leaved morning glory, and lobelias with intense blue flowers.

Note: Please be aware that our plug plants are professional products reserved for experienced gardeners: upon receipt, transplant and store them under cover (veranda, greenhouse, cold frame...) at a temperature above 14C° for a few weeks before being planted outdoors once the risk of frost has definitively passed.