It's said to be hardy to Zone 6a so it should survive for you. Tell us something about the planting area, your care for it, are you mulching it in winter, etc. It won't tolerate wet conditions, especially in winter, and prefers full sun.

Sandy

I was wondering if Homestead Purple is hardy in my area. It may be too soon to tell if it will come back. I don't see any sprouts yet. I planted a few very small plants last summer. They grew a bit and flowered, but from what I am reading, they don't always reappear in a colder zone. We had a cold winter this year. My area is sunny and not too moist. It was well mulched this winter. I guess I'll have to wait and see. If it doesn't come back, are there any substitutes that are reliable in NYC?

I can't say that I gave any extraordinary care to the verbenas I've had but when most things in a bed return and one thing doesn't, it makes me wonder more about the hardiness of the plant than anything I've done or not done.

I haven't gotten the new ones in the ground yet (still waiting on "spring" it seems!) but I'm going to try a different location and see if that makes a difference. They always grow well and flower all summer, so if I HAVE to deal with them as "annuals" I guess I will, for the pleasure of having them in my gardens! I'm also delighted to see my "Rozanne" hardy geraniums making a strong comeback this spring and want to add a couple more. :-)

I agree with Artrageous in zone 7. The plant is inconsistently hardy in zone 7. For me, it depends on the winter. I used to plant the Homestead Purple Verbena. It would be fine for a few years and then one year, it wouldn't come back and I'd have to buy a new plant. By trial and error, I was able to come up with a strategy that has worked well for me in Maryland. First, unlike most of my perennials, I do not cut back my verbena at all in fall/early winter. I leave the runners alone. The more runners you have, the higher the likelihood that it will make it through the winter and sprout back from some part of the plant. I do throw mulch on top of the plant for winter, not too much, but enough to cover it because it has no winter interest whatsoever and also to protect the roots and runners. By mid spring, little green shoots start to pop up. When they get large enough, I just transplant them to the area where I want them to grow and in late spring I go ahead and cut out the non-productive runners and dead wood. You could also overwinter some cuttings inside, but this has worked well for me and by late spring my verbena is going like gangbusters.

I was given a tray of nearly dead baby plants. The ones I planted at my front door, where I could baby them, lived wonderfully through the winter! I did not prune their long runners. I fed them liquid root stimulator when they were planted, and again at spring. Then later, I gave them some liquid food, and they are crazy with flowers! I have since read that if you feed them too much you'll see more flowers than leaves and that is what happened to me. In the samll area, the deep purple is overwhelming next to the other flowers that have not bloomed yet. Boy, they would look awesome on my hill, but I already have light purple phlox covering a lot of it.

I'm in zone 6 which is having a late spring, and wondered if I can cut back my Verbena Homestead Purple to about 6 to 8" long and still maintain plant health and get blooms.