Tall, slender stems of purple blooms from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden’s Verbena bonariensis rise before a white house with gray-trimmed windows, attracting butterflies and reflecting the surrounding greenery.
Tall, slender stems of purple blooms from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden’s Verbena bonariensis rise before a white house with gray-trimmed windows, attracting butterflies and reflecting the surrounding greenery.Vibrant purple Verbena bonariensis by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden blooms in a sunlit, green garden, attracting butterflies. Its airy flowers add beauty to borders, with blurred foliage and a glass greenhouse in the background.A woman in a white tank top, sunglasses, and straw hat smiles among tall Verbena bonariensis from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with these see-through plants attracting butterflies under a partly cloudy blue sky.Tall stems of Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden’s Verbena bonariensis grow near a white house with a grey-framed window, attracting butterflies and offering glimpses of garden greenery and the interior through the glass.Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden’s Verbena bonariensis features tall green stems topped with clusters of small purple flowers, creating a vibrant, butterfly-attracting display against hints of grassy fields in the background.The Verbena bonariensis from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features a yellow circular RHS Plants for Pollinators logo with a black and white bee, making it ideal for attracting butterflies to your garden.Verbena bonariensis by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features tall green stems with clusters of small purple flowers that attract butterflies, set against a backdrop of trees, leafy plants, and a white tent beneath a sunny sky.A close-up shows dense Verbena bonariensis from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with tall, thin stems topped by clusters of small purple flowers, green foliage in the background, and butterflies attracted to the blooms.Clusters of small purple flowers from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden's Verbena bonariensis bloom on slender green stems near a gray house, with a blurred metal chair in the background. This plant is known for attracting butterflies.
Perennial Pollinator AGM

Verbena bonariensis

Verbena bonariensis — RHS AGM; RHS Pollinators

£2.20approx. 250 seeds

Tall wiry "see-through" stems topped with electric-purple flower clusters — the designer-quality structural perennial and one of the best UK plants for attracting butterflies.

Sowing months
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Height
up to 1.5m
Spread
45cm
Spacing
45cm
Position
Full sun is essential for the most robust growth and abundant blooms.
Soil
While it is surprisingly drought-tolerant and can survive in poor soils
Grow guide
How to grow Verbena bonariensis
Read the full guide →
About this variety

Tall wiry stems at 1.2 to 1.5m carrying tight clusters of small electric-purple flowers, and the stems are so thin and so sparsely leafed that you can plant it at the front of a border and still see everything behind it. That see-through quality is why designers use it constantly.

For butterflies it is one of the two or three most important plants in a late-summer British garden. The flat flower heads make a landing platform, and it goes on from midsummer to the frosts.

It is a short-lived perennial and a hard winter will kill it, particularly on heavy wet ground. What saves it is prolific self-seeding: dozens of seedlings appear in spring and replace the parents without your doing anything. That is also the honest warning, because in a garden it likes it will come up everywhere, in gravel, in paving, in the middle of other plants. Pull what you do not want while it is small. Leave the dried stems standing over winter for structure, and cut back in spring once the new growth shows.

Plant alongside

Verbena bonariensis pairs beautifully with these cottage garden classics

Tithonia Goldfinger
Tithonia Goldfinger
£2.30
Echinacea Bravado
Echinacea Bravado
£2.30
Rudbeckia Marmalade
Rudbeckia Marmalade
£2.10

RHS Plants for Pollinators

This plant has been assessed by the Royal Horticultural Society and recommended as especially beneficial to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Growing plants like this directly supports UK pollinator populations — something close to our hearts at Salle Moor Hall Farm, where we see the difference a cottage garden full of the right plants can make.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →

RHS Award of Garden Merit

The RHS Award of Garden Merit is given to plants of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden use. To earn this award a plant must be of good constitution, available to the gardening public, and perform reliably across a range of UK growing conditions. It is one of the most trusted plant recommendations in British gardening and a genuine mark of quality.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →