Verbena stricta in bloom

This Verbena stricta (hoary vervain, verveine veloutée) is putting on a show in the boulevard beds near the Grenadier Café in High Park. The boulevard beds were planted with native plants by the High Park Volunteer Stewardship Program in 2000. Here's a closer look at a flower spike. Only a few blooms at a time are open, giving a longer blooming period. Since I started some Verbena stricta seeds this spring, perhaps I'll see these lovely lavender flowers in our own garden next summer!

Verbena stricta seedlings

The hoary vervain, which I started from seed from North American Native Plant Society, is doing very well—and no one's eaten it yet! I'm looking forward to the blooms. Maybe next summer?

Verbena stricta: seeds

Verbena stricta, known in English as hoary vervain and in French as verveine veloutée, is a perennial native to central and eastern Canada and most of the continental United States. It bears delicate spikes of mauve flowers.

This is my first attempt at growing hoary vervain. I bought these seeds from the North American Native Plant Society at Seedy Saturday. I am cold-moist stratifying them in the fridge to simulate a North American winter. According to the hoary vervain page at Dave's Garden, it will bloom the first year!