Common Name: Hoary Vervain

Latin Name: Verbena stricta

Height: 3-4 feet tall

Duration: Short-lived Perennial

Bloom Color: Lavender, Blue

Bloom Time: June - September

Water Use: Low

Soil: Medium-Dry, Dry. Sandy soils.

Light Requirement: Full Sun, Partial Shade

Spreads via seeds

Host Plant: Common Buckeye buterfly, Fine-Lined Sallow moth, and Verbena Moth caterpillars.

Pollinators: Long-tongued bees (bumblebees, little carpenter bees, cuckoo bees, miner bees, and leaf-cutter bees), green metallic bees, thread-waited wasps, bee flies, thick-headed flies, butterflies, and skippers. There is a specialist bee for this plant called the Verbena Bee.

Other Information: Songbirds like cardinals, juncos, and sparrows eat the seeds during the winter. Rarely eaten by herbivores because of the hairy, bitter foliage. It has a hard time competing with other plants, does not do well with aggressive species.