Sweet Almond Verbena, a New Podcast & Upcoming Events
Hello all! Recently I had the opportunity to talk with the good folks at the Green Acres podcast. We had a blast talking gardens, pollinators and of course… fragrant gardens. Here is a link to the podcast if you’d like to listen. This week, I thought I’d talk about an underrated necessity for any fragrant flower garden: Aloysia virgata - aka -Sweet almond verbena.
Sweet Almond verbena has long, white spires of incredible vanilla & almond scented flowers that bloom from summer to fall. It is a must-have for fragrant gardens where it can be grown in zones 8-11. You don’t need to be up close to enjoy the flower’s aroma, which permeates the garden when these scent showstoppers are in bloom. Hummingbirds, butterflies & bees love these flowers, too!
Sweet almond verbena is a fast-growing shrub that prefers a lot of access to sunlight. In warmer climates, it can be evergreen or semi-evergreen. In colder climates it is deciduous and often dies back to the ground for the winter. Amazingly though, it will return in spring and grow up to 8 feet in just one season!
Even though their cousin, lemon verbena, is edible and has been consistently popular amongst us gardeners, the lesser known almond verbena is not an edible plant. Instead, harvest for arrangements and natural scent projects. Sweet almond verbena’s unique vanilla -almond fragrance supports and brings out other floral notes in layered mixed fragrant floral bouquets.
As I mentioned in a previous post last week, I’ll be doing a lot of events in June. You can catch us on June 1 at the Green Acres Nursery in Roseville. I’ll also be in Healdsburg on June 8 at the MIX Garden Nursery. These events (June 1 and June 8) will be talks about my recently published book, The Fragrant Flower Garden. And you’ve missed mine and Rose’s tea garden class, I have some good news! We’re teaching another class about making garden cocktails at Morningsun Herb Farm on June 15. This after hours event at the farm is a special treat, as we will have the gardens to ourselves for the evening! Rose and I will be teaching about homemade bitters, herbal cocktails and mocktails (for drivers and the thirsty!). We will sample several herbal cocktails and mocktails and make our own garden bitters. Walking through the gardens for a short informative tour, each person will be able to cut their own herbs to add to their bitters. Everyone will be able to make their own unique blend of garden bitters to take home. And I am ending the month in Kauai for two classes with Cooking Kauai’s Aletha Thomas June 21 and 22.
Thank you for your attention while I wrote about my favorite verbena. I’m sending everyone positive energy for this week.
—Stefani