Seed: sow early spring in a greenhouse or cold frame and only just cover the seed. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.

Division in spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame until they are growing away well. Plant them out in the summer or the following spring.

Basal cuttings in early summer. Harvest the shoots with plenty of underground stem when they are about 8 - 10cm above the ground. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer.

Succeeds in any moderately fertile well-drained but moisture retentive soil in a sunny position. Plants are hardy to about -20°c.

Fresh or dried leaf, in tincture or tea, is a bitter remedy for treating indigestion, colds, and fevers. A good ingredient for home brew, it is also a traditional offering plant to honor the garden spirits. The plant will placate ills, real or imagined. Once imagined, ills become real, don't they? It's a quirk of the human condition that most of us would like to escape. Vervain helps you escape.

The leaves and roots are used medicinally; roots are more active than the leaves. The plant is used in the treatment of stomach aches, gravel, worms and scrofula. An infusion of the roots, leaves or seeds has been used in the early stages of fevers. A snuff made from the dried flowers has been used to treat nose bleeds.