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Butterfly Garden

Blue Vervain

13 years ago

When I started out trying to attract butterflies to my garden,

several informational websites suggested Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata). I purchased plants two years ago and I don't recall seeing even one butterfly nectaring on them. As I begin my spring cleanup, I can't help but wonder whether I should give these one more year before I trash them? They bloom beautifully and look like their form would be a magnet for butterflies. I don't recall any of you more experienced growers commenting on them either. What results have you gotten in your garden?

Thanks.

Bob

Blue Vervain in my garden

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Comments (9)

angie83
13 years ago
Wow its so pretty never grown it does it have a smell.
Angie
caterwallin
13 years ago
Bob, I guess it's entirely up to you if you want to keep the plants or not. I started a whole bunch from seed several years ago and planted them here. The reason I wanted them is they're supposed to be a Common Buckeye host plant. I never got any cats on the plants, but I saw the butterflies flying around the yard/garden. I had even been trying to decide if I even wanted to plant them in the first place after I read how big they get, and they didn't really look all that pretty to me, judging from pictures I've seen of them. I decided to give them a chance...to me if 3 years of having a plant doesn't produce results, i.e. eggs on the plants, then I seriously consider taking them out, which is what I did. I never even saw a single butterfly nectar on the flowers (although I mostly wanted them for host plants). The plants must have gotten about 7 feet tall because they were well over my head (I'm 5-1/2 feet tall), and they had a bad habit of falling over. I tried several methods of staking them up and the weight of the plants would always pull everything over anyway. I got tired of it. Another thing that I didn't like about the plants is that they got white powdery mildew on them. So now they're gone and I'm planting snapdragons in their place, only I can't remember if the buckeyes lay eggs on the short ones, tall ones, or both.
Cathy
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bob_71
Original Author
13 years ago
Angie, I haven't detected any fragrance and the bloom period is fairly short.

Bob
bob_71
Original Author
13 years ago
Cathy, all the recommendations for this plant were in the nectar area rather than as a host plant. Last year, I had lots of Common Buckeye caterpillars...all on snapdragons. i only grew the short variety.

Bob
MissSherry
13 years ago
If it were me, and the plants grew so tall they flopped over, since they're apparently no good as a nectar or host plant, I'd get rid of them. I wouldn't want to do any work for plants that don't produce - flopped over plants look bad, and it's a lot of work to try and keep them "righted"!

Sherry
caterwallin
13 years ago
Bob, I don't know if it would be a good nectar plant other places, but it sure isn't here. I took all of mine out. The short snapdragons is what I'll grow then since you got cats on that kind.

Sherry, Yes, they were a lot of work for sure trying to keep them upright. They were the tallest plant in my gardens at about 7 feet tall. I think I'll stay away from plants that tall in the future.
Cathy
bob_71
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks, to all of you!

Looks like I just gained a little extra space in the garden.

Bob
murray_2008
13 years ago
I planted some kind of vervain last year that I got from a native plant source that claimed they were absolute butterfly magnets and they too flopped over but were not tall - just ugly, and never attracted anything at all that I noticed. Fortunately, although they were listed as potentially invasive they died this past winter so that is that. It should only work out that way every time I plant something new that turns out to be a loser. So I am with you. And I also like having new space available in the yard. As my daughter said to me about the same issue, "Yank it dad, that is prime real estate that plant is taking up. Murray
butterflyman
13 years ago
Although I do have a couple of plants, I also don't see much nectaring action on them. Try verbena bonareinsis if you want to see lots of nectaring.

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