“Native White Vervain (Verbena urticifolia) is notoriously difficult to photograph well,” Lora Conrad wrote in the Iowa wildflower enthusiasts Facebook group in mid-July. “Several of us have tried and admitted our failures–no, not disasters, but just not the brilliant crisp sharp photo we want of those tiny flowers and their sprangled out in all kinds of directions flower stems on that three foot high plant!!”

Lora (whose photography skills are outstanding) added that she has “deleted so many images I made of White Vervain–far far more than I have kept.” I can relate—in fact, I leaned on Phil Specht and Wendie Schneider to provide many of the pictures in my post from 2018 featuring this species.

Just for fun, Lora organized the first photo challenge in the four-year history of the Facebook group where she, Katie Byerly, and I are administrators. We crowdsourced the judging: the winner was the photo with the most “likes” in the contest thread. I enclose the top performers below, along with some other entries.

Why is white vervain so difficult to photograph? Lora explained, “Something just isn’t in focus or it’s too tiny to enjoy or who knows what else—but not ‘just right.'” By way of example, she included one of her own attempts.

Melissa Wubben submitted the winning entry. She took this picture in Warren County.

The runner up was Phil Specht, who took this picture in a Clayton County pasture.

Lora gave an honorable mention to Dianne Mason Morstad of Fayette County, “for the amazing depth of field in her photo of an entire plant.” I agree—this is one of the best images I’ve seen of a whole white vervain plant.

Moving on to some other entries, Jodi Harpstead took this lovely picture near a stream in northeast Iowa’s Driftless area.

Not surprisingly, most of the photo challenge entries zeroed in on white vervain flowers, rather than trying to capture the whole plant. Here’s another by Dianne Mason Morstad, taken on a sunny day in Fayette County.

Dianne took this picture as well. I am not sure whether the bright yellow flowers are woodland sunflower or Jerusalem artichoke.

Here’s another shot by Jodi Harpstead from the Driftless area.

Here’s a view from above of a white vervain plant in bloom, courtesy of Melissa Wubben in Warren County.

I took this picture along the Windsor Heights bike trail in Polk County.

Moving closer to the tiny white flowers, Katie Byerly took this picture in Cerro Gordo County.

Jo Hain took this picture, also in Cerro Gordo County.

Elizabeth Norris contributed this photo, taken at Wiese Slough in Muscatine County.