'Lollipop' gives gardeners the wispy, see-through charm of tall verbena in a much more manageable package, holding dense clusters of small lilac-purple flowers atop slender stems clad in fine, sparse foliage. Where the species can tower to 4 or 5 feet and flop without staking, 'Lollipop' tops out around 2 feet tall and wide, packing its blooms into tighter, rounder clusters that read almost pom-pom-like against the airy stems. It flowers in steady flushes from early summer through early fall, drawing bees, butterflies, and songbirds all season, and it holds up well as a cut flower thanks to those sturdy stems and long-lasting blooms.
This is an easy, low-input plant for full sun to part shade in average, well-drained soil, hardy in zones 6 to 9 and heat and drought tolerant once established. Like its taller parent species, 'Lollipop' self-sows readily, letting it drift and reappear through a border the way straight Verbena bonariensis famously does — making it a good "see-through" plant for the front of beds, where its slim profile lets sightlines pass through to what's planted behind it. Deer and rabbits tend to leave it alone, which is a nice bonus for a plant this attractive to pollinators.
'Lollipop' is a dwarf selection bred by Must Have Perennials and brought to market through Darwin Perennials (Ball Horticultural Company), developed specifically to solve the practical problems growers and gardeners have long had with straight Verbena bonariensis — namely its rangy height and tendency to flop. By concentrating the species' airy character into a tighter, front-of-border scale, 'Lollipop' opened up new uses for the plant in containers and smaller garden spaces where the towering species was never a fit. It's proven popular enough to earn the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, a nod to its reliable garden performance.
Photo Credit: Stonehouse Nursery & Darwin Perennials