White Vervain

Verbena urticifolia

White vervain isn't glamorous. thin branching stems, tiny white flowers, a weedy presence that most conventional gardeners would overlook. But in the native garden it earns its place through sheer ecological productivity. The small flowers are powerfully attractive to native bees, wasps, and small butterflies, including painted ladies and skippers that need compact, accessible florets rather than deep tubular flowers. It blooms for weeks, producing successive flushes of tiny blooms up branching stems. It naturalizes readily from seed in disturbed areas and edges, making it excellent for filling in rough spots in a wildlife garden. The seeds feed goldfinches and other small birds in fall. A plant for gardeners who care more about what's happening ecologically than what the neighbors think.