Verbena, Rose King-HB

Easily grown in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Avoid wet, poorly drained soils. Self-seeds in optimum growing conditions. May be grown as an annual throughout the normal range for the species, and in particular in the northern parts of USDA Zone 5 where it is not reliably winter hardy and appreciates some winter protection. Glandularia canadensis is commonly called rose verbena, clump verbena or rose vervain. It is a perennial that typically occurs in prairies, fields, pastures, rocky glades, roadsides and waste areas. It is a clumping, sprawling plant that grows to 6-18 in tall, and can spread rather quickly by pubescent, decumbent stems, rooting at the nodes where they touch the ground, to form an attractive ground cover. Flat-topped clusters of 5-petaled, rose-pink to rose-purple flowers appear atop ascending stems in a long, late spring to late summer bloom. Deeply lobed dark green leaves (to 4" long) have triangular bases.