How to grow speedwell
It’s easy to give ho-hum plantings an exciting new look when you add speedwell to the mix. Long spikes of purple, lavender, blue, pink or white last for several weeks starting in late spring or early summer. Bees and butterflies are frequent visitors to the dozens of tiny individual flowers on each stem. Groups of five or more speedwell make it easier for pollinators to spot and provide a splashy focal point for your borders.
Everyone takes note of the sweep of ‘Red Fox’ above when they pass by. This old favorite is a variety known for its 15-inch-long deep pink to rosy-red spikes and compact size. This cultivar grows 12 to 24 inches tall and 15 to 24 inches wide in USDA zones 3 to 8. But there are a lot more speedwells that are worth growing in your garden. Keep reading to take a look at what you’ll find at the garden center and discover some tips for growing great-looking plants.
Speedwell (Veronica spp. and hybrids)
Type: Perennial
Blooms: Spike-shaped flowers in purple, lavender, blue, pink or white bloom from late spring to early fall
Light: Full sun to part shade
Soil: Well-drained
Pests: None serious
Size: 6 to 48 in. tall, 6 to 24 in. wide
Hardiness: Cold hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8
Designing with speedwell in the garden
Speedwell makes every border better, with its distinctive blooms and range of sizes that you can use in just about any sunny spot. The low-growing speedwells, such as ‘Crater Lake Blue’ or ‘Giles van Hees’, max out at 6 to 15 inches tall and work well near the front of a border or as edging along a patio. In the middle of the border, 2- to 2½-foot-tall ‘Lavender Lightsaber’ and ‘High Five’ are good choices. You can even get back-of-the-border beauty with long leaf speedwell (Veronica longifolia), which grows 4 feet tall.
Add interest with speedwell spike flowers
You can’t help but think about flower shapes when you’re growing speedwell. From long slender wands to plump darts (depending on the variety), this perennial adds excitement and interest to any planting. The border above wouldn’t be nearly as dynamic without ‘Purpleicious’. Its long slender blooms contrast well with the Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum), globe thistle (Echinops ritro) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium) blooms nearby. In addition, its upright growth habit provides some variation from the many mounds of foliage at the front of the border.
You can use these attention-getting blooms to point the way to a small ornament in the border or draw visitors along the path. Since speedwell is naturally compact and slender, you’ll probably be happiest with the impact if you plant groups of three to five plants instead of single specimens.
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Choose your color palette
Speedwell has a range of colors to choose from that will set the mood for your garden rooms and borders. Although the spikes create visual energy, speedwell’s colors tend to give off a more laid-back vibe. Cool blues, purples and even pink add soothing colors to a seating area. And plant a few white-flowered specimens near the patio. That way when you linger there with friends on a warm summer evening, those light-colored blooms will provide a magical accent as they glow in the moonlight.
Add speedwell to container garden plantings
If container gardening is your passion, you can still grow speedwell. ‘Blue Sprite’ in the container above provides plenty of color in late spring to early summer along with the snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus), ragged robin (Silene flos-cuculi), penstemon (Penstemon heterophyllus) and dianthus (Dianthus hybrid). This variety is usually done blooming by mid- to late summer. When this variety stops blooming, you could either remove the plant from the container or cut off the spent blooms and leave the foliage in place.
Transplant to the garden at the end of the season
If you want to save your container-grown speedwell, remove it from the planting at least 4 to 6 weeks before your first frost date in fall and plant it in the border. That way it has a chance to settle in for winter.
Tips for growing speedwell
When you plant speedwell in full sun and well-drained soil, it’ll grow without much care: It isn’t susceptible to many pests or diseases — even deer and rabbits seem to pass it by. And speedwell produces flowers that look good for weeks without needing fertilizer. Of course, it never hurts to top dress with compost in fall each year.
Plants aren’t super drought-tolerant, but it’s OK if they dry out a bit between waterings. If it’s been an extra dry summer in your area it’s a good idea to give them a drink every so often to avoid crispy-looking foliage and wilted flowers. Gentian speedwell (Veronica gentianoides) is the exception to this advice: It needs consistent moisture to look its best. Grow it in a spot that’s easy to water or in a low area that stays moist but not boggy. An inch or two of organic mulch is a great way to help conserve moisture and keeps the weeds down for all speedwells.
Start plants from seed to save money
Most of the time you’ll find speedwell plants for sale at the garden center. But if you’re budget conscious, you can save some money by starting them from seed: Sow the tiny seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost date in your area. They need light to germinate, so press them into the surface of the seed-starting mix. At 65 to 70 degrees F, you should see growth in 12 to 14 days. When young plants have three to four sets of true leaves (ones that look like the mature plant), they’re ready to go outdoors.
Get more flowers by deadheading
While Hungarian (Veronica. austriaca subsp. teucrium) and gentian speedwell bloom just once, spike (V. spicata) and long leaf speedwells and their hybrids have side stems that keep the show going once the first flush of blooms has faded. Individual flowers start opening at the bottom of the spike and move upward. Most speedwells send up a central flower stem that opens first and smaller side branches that open later.
You can see that the main stem above is partially spent while the side stems’ blooms are nearly open. This is a good time to deadhead the central flower to tidy up the plant. You can keep cutting individual flowers back as they fade, or you can wait until they’re mostly finished and cut the large stem back to a lower leaf joint. Andrew Jager, marketing manager at Walters Gardens, explains that older varieties, such as ‘Sunny Border Blue’, typically put on a big first show with a light rebloom. Newer varieties often have a larger rebloom, and still others, such as ‘White Wands’ and ‘Ever After’, hold their initial flush of blooms all summer so they seem to be constantly in flower.
Another reason that you might get the pruners out is that speedwells tend to drop their lower leaves in summer — especially when it’s been hot and dry. If that happens, cutting the plant to the ground might make it look better. In a week or so new growth will take off — you might even get a later summer rebloom.
Stake tall varieties
Taller varieties may need staking if stems start to lean. Coated wire hoop stakes work well in this situation. Getting the stake in place early, before new growth takes off, is a lot easier than trying to wrestle floppy stems into a hoop without breaking them after the fact.
How to divide speedwell
The easiest way to get more of your favorite plant is by division. It’s also a great way to revitalize spindly plants that aren’t flowering as well as they used to. Spring or fall is the best time to do this. Dig the whole plant out of the ground and split it into pieces with several stems each. The photo above shows you what that looks like.
If the plant doesn’t need to be divided but you just want more of it, it’s even easier to simply slice a chunk from the main plant. Either way, replant the divisions at the same level they were growing in the ground and give them a good drink to help settle the soil in around the roots. Once they take off, you’ll have plenty of speedwell to keep your borders filled with eye-catching color!
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Meet the speedwell family
There are 250 species of speedwell that range from low-growing ground covers to upright border plants. Many have long bloom spikes packed with tiny individual funnel-shaped flowers, but a few are saucer-shaped. Colors can be white, bright pink, deep purple or all shades of blue. Speedwell is also quite cold hardy and isn’t usually bothered by pests or disease.
Most of the plants you’ll find in the garden center are hybrids or cultivars, but if you want some added height in the border, long leaf speedwell (Veronica longifolia) is a great choice. It grows up to 4 feet tall and has extra-long flower spikes.
Sara Greenwood, global product development manager at Darwin Perennials, says breeders there are working on varieties with longer bloom times, more pollinator activity and new colors. To do that they’re often making complex crosses between different species and hybrids. Let’s take a look at a few different speedwells you can find at the garden center or from the sources below.
Speedwell plant sources
- Bluestone Perennials | 800-852-5243
- Sooner Plant Farm | 918-453-0771
