Michigan Verbena

Verbena, especially the tall Verbena bonariensis, is the airy see-through filler that gives a summer bouquet its lightness and movement. Slim, almost bare wiry stems shoot up tall and branch at the top into small tight clusters of purple and violet florets, so the color seems to float and dance above everything else. Rather than filling space, it opens it up, adding height and a gauzy, meadow-like quality that designers love.

The genus Verbena includes both this tall South American species and lower garden types, and our growers raise the cutting forms rather than gathering them wild. They thrive in the heat of a Michigan summer, flowering freely from midsummer until frost, with the tall verbena often reseeding itself for the following year.

For our farmers verbena is a favorite finishing stem. A few of its floating purple clusters woven through an arrangement instantly make it feel airier, taller, and more like something gathered from a summer meadow.