Blue Vervain

Verbena hastata

A native perennial, Blue Vervain in full bloom can be quite a pleasing sight, but as a rather lanky plant it would demand being at the back of a garden.  Its tall central stem -- sometimes reddishs or with red streaks -- is somewhat angled.  The main stem produces a number of side-stems that in good light continue to ascend rather than reaching outward; each stem or side-stem ends in a cluster of flower spikes of tightly-spaced buds that open, from the bottom up, as small (1/4 inch) five-lobed flowers of a beautiful blue-violet color. Leaves are profuse along the stems, especially low on the plant, and are quite large (up to 8 inches long), lance-shaped (seldom more than 1 inch wide), with serrated edges and short petioles (stalks).

3-5 feet, sun - partial sun.

Summer (July-September).

8 July 2020.

Blue Vervain, 15 July 2020.