12–48" tall.
Native wildflower with long-lasting steeples of blue-violet blossoms held on square reddish-purple stems with fuzzy slate-green leaves. Attracts scads of pollinators, most notably the Buckeye butterfly. Birds will devour the seeds!
In 1911, Eloise Butler wrote of hoary vervain growing in a neglected lot: “Large, downy leaves thickly clothe the stem. The flower spikes are long and slender, having close rows of seed pods at the base with a ring of bright blue flowers above and tapering at the tip with the still unopened buds. The garden Verbena, unlike this weed, has the lazy habit of lying with its elbows on the ground and getting covered with dirt.” Spreads by seed and will form nice clumps, even in dry soil.
Plant 18" apart in full sun in well-drained soil. Blooms June through August. Native to central US and eastern Canada. See also: Blue vervain. Zone 3.
Maine Grown.