Garden Guy: Break out the Superbena Pink Cashmere to dress up your spring garden

Norman Winter
·4 min read
This recipe called All The Time features Unplugged Pink salvia, Plum Dandy alternanthera, the new 2024 Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid petunia and of course Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena.
This recipe called All The Time features Unplugged Pink salvia, Plum Dandy alternanthera, the new 2024 Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid petunia and of course Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena.

There is a new verbena coming this spring that is like "cashmere for swallowtails,' plus its beauty and garden charm will sweep you off your feet. It’s called Superbena Pink Cashmere and the excitement it is creating has most of us counting the days until spring.

As I was watching it flourish in my backyard and at a realtor friend’s window box in Phenix City, Alabama, I was able to see it at the Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour in Auburn. In all three places, Superbena Pink Cashmere was ever so beautiful, new and fresh, yet with a touch of nostalgia.

It was also performing lights out up the road in Athens at the University of Georgia Trials. It was awarded a Plant of Distinction for August. You might think no flower wins anything in the hot humid month of August in Georgia; however, Superbena Pink Cashmere will be known not only for beauty but also perseverance. UGA said, “Thank you Pink Cashmere for showing off and proving to the world what verbenas are capable of!”

Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena brought in this Pipevine Swallowtail in September making it a trifecta as it had already played host to Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Spicebush Swallowtails.
Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena brought in this Pipevine Swallowtail in September making it a trifecta as it had already played host to Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Spicebush Swallowtails.

In September, the prized Pipevine Swallowtail was at the Garden Guy’s house Feeding on Superbena Pink Cashmere blossoms completing what I call a Swallowtail Trifecta after the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Spicebush Swallowtails took part in the Pink Cashmere feast.

When the University of Tennessee trial program awarded Superbena Pink Cashmere a Best of Show Award, the judges wrote, “The large umbels of delicate pink flowers on this verbena won our hearts, with its extreme vigor, producing loads of blossoms all season without deadheading. Mounded trailing plants were attractive to bees and butterflies, providing interest all warm season. This sun loving plant is deer resistant and disease resistant making it an easy choice for containers and flowerbeds. It grows 12-15” tall and trailed 24-30” in our trial bed."

Proven Winners recently said that Superbena Pink Cashmere won 15 awards in 2023. While these will be posted at a later date, you can already feel confident in buying them for this spring. You may want to tell your favorite garden center you will be expecting the opportunity to make that purchase.

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Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena makes its debut this spring and won 15 awards in 2023 including Best of Show at University of Tennessee.
Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena makes its debut this spring and won 15 awards in 2023 including Best of Show at University of Tennessee.

Proven Winners has already created two new recipes to help get you started. My favorite is called ‘All The Time’ and features Unplugged Pink salvia as the thriller, along with Plum Dandy alternanthera, the 2024 new Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid petunia and, of course, the star of this show, the Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena.

The Garden Guy partnered his with the new 2024 Supertunia Saffron Finch petunia that gives a real taste of yellow cheer along with the pink shades of the verbena.  Proven Winners describe the colors as pink, silver and white.

Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena has the same size of flowers and vigor as Superbena Whiteout and Violet Ice, two other award-winning favorites. The Garden Guy typically gets three years or more out of Superbenas. The hardiness are zones 8-11, although it’s worth every penny as an annual.

Throughout the year, The Garden Guy will go around sticking tip cuttings in mixed containers where a blank space may have opened up. For this reason, I never really know how old a particular plant is, but I can truthfully say, I am never without Superbena verbenas.

The Garden Guy paired Superbena Pink Cashmere with this year’s new Supertunia Saffron Finch petunia.
The Garden Guy paired Superbena Pink Cashmere with this year’s new Supertunia Saffron Finch petunia.

I will always be a little sun challenged, but I get enough to let verbenas rock. So, give yours plenty of sun and use good lightweight potting soil in your containers. Make your beds fertile, organic rich and freely draining. I feed with a water-soluble fertilizer every two to three weeks, and when it comes to verbenas, I cut back religiously to make sure I am always creating new growth, which of course brings more flowers.

It was 17 degrees this morning as I wrote this column, but a warm-up is next and I am ready for a spring spruce up, planting, and to see Superbena Pink Cashmere verbena blooms once again.

Follow Norman Winter on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy for more photos and garden inspiration. See more columns by Norman at SavannahNow.com/lifestyle/home-garden/.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Superbena Pink Cashmere dresses up savannah ga spring gardens