There was a new vendor, Beloved Brook Natives, at the Greene Farmers Market yesterday morning, with marvelous native plants. My wonderful husband bought two Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata), and brought them home, along with a farmers market breakfast. This afternoon I put them into a garden just outside the kitchen window. I got a good sign as I was finishing up the work, when a Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) and a Sweat Bee (Halictidae) came by to check out the flowers. Seems they approve of the addition to the garden.

Blue Vervain is native to all of the continental US and most of Canada. And much to my delight it is the host plant of Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia), a butterfly that is very special to me, though I don’t see them nearly often enough. I’m so pleased that in planting these Vervains, perhaps I’ll be seeing more Common Buckeyes.

Got my fingers crossed!

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