Monday, April 04, 2011

Mealy Cup Sage


Mealy Cup Sage
Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'
(SAL-vee-uh) (far-ih-NAH-kee-uh)

This is an annual in our area and it is not one of my favorites. The nurseries seem to be always pushing it and while the flower color looks nice I would much rather grow the perennial types of Saliva or ‘Black and Blue’. Sometimes when a plant under performs for me it will give it a couple more chances but ‘Victoria Blue’ just hasn’t come through for me. Most times I write this off as being my fault especially with a plant as popular as this one.

It does look good en masse and has a subtle fragrance. A couple of qualities it does have are low water requirements and a resistance to deer. Like most of their relatives they are attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

“Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very May; but at length the season of summer does come”
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

4 comments:

Kala said...

Gorgeous color DF. Various types of sage bloom in profusion here in the summer.

SandyCarlson said...

I have seen a lot of that one, too. I like the color very much.

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

It is a perennial for those of us who live in the warmer regions. I had it in VA and am thinking of getting some for here.
Your photo captures the blue nicely.

lotusleaf said...

Beautiful picture!This is a popular plant in public gardens here, as it is drought resistant.