Description
Verbena hastata
CT RG DR P
Soil: Neutral to Acidic
Moisture: Moist to Wet
Light: Full to Part Sun
Plant Height: 2 to 5 feet
Plant Width: 1 to 2.5 feet
Pests: None
Landscape Value: Great for borders, wet fields, low spots, and naturalized areas along stream and pond edges. Good choice for butterfly gardens.
Adds a beautiful upright accent to the landscape! Showy, clump-forming perennial, with stout stems that branch above and produce numerous pencil-like flower spikes, giving the appearance of a candelabra. Each spike has rings of tiny, blue-purple flowers that bloom in mid-to-late summer. Flowers on each spike bloom from bottom to top and give way to nutlets eaten by cardinals, juncos, sparrows, and other songbirds. Most mammals avoid this plant due to its bitter leaves, with the exception of Cottontail rabbits that occasionally browse on young leaves. Attracts wasps, flies, small butterflies, moths, and large numbers of native bees, especially bumble bees. Larval host of the Common Buckeye butterfly.
Landscape plugs, 2″ wide by 5″ deep, sold in quantities of 5 or 10
Photo credits:
Connecticut Botanical Society (photo by Janet Novak)
