Blue Vervain | Verbena hastata shrub or turning into next-level jam

or turning into next-level jam

The berries are large

A unique and resilient pomegranate variety

and deeply flavored with the bright aromatic quality that makes a homegrown raspberry so far superior to anything from a grocery store

while traditional herbalists valued it for supporting digestion and easing colds

Blue Vervain | Verbena hastata shrub or turning into next-level jamThe genus name says it all verbena is Latin for "sacred plant," and blue vervain has been used ceremonially and medicinally across Native American traditions and European herbalism for centuries. Tall, slender spikes of blue violet flowers rise 35 feet and bloom from the bottom up through mid summer into fall, long after most perennials have checked out. It's striking in the landscape that vertical accent and that color are genuinely hard to replicate