Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Hoary Vervain


Lovely plant. Ugly name. To my knowledge, this plant has not been widely grown in gardens, and perhaps it should be. It might even make a fine cut flower since it has strong line and a cool color that is welcome in summer. It just hasn't been refined by horticulture. It greeted us a short distance from West Palisades Cemetery near Garretson, SD, the hometown of some of my ancestors.




Here's Devil's Gulch, where we parked to have a quick look. It's not a big state park, but the pink quartz is really cool. You don't quite get the full pink effect in this photo, but the pink really stands out with the green.  Not enormous cliffs, but after hundreds of miles of plains, this is a standout area in southeastern South Dakota. Undoubtedly these rocks are the roots of some ancient mountains bulldozed by glaciers.

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