Salvia

It's difficult to blog when all I did was sit on the new deck and knit all day. It was glorious, and just how I want to spend my summer. So this morning, I think I must share something about what I planted. Salvia, two kinds.

How I wish I had grown this bunch, but no, I just slurped it from the web. It is the good old standby Salvia, aka Firecracker plant. Blazing red flowers above sturdy green leaves, always makes a great impression in the garden. I had to have some and really hope they mature to something near this.

And the other, my new best-favorite flower is the Victoria Blue Salvia. The flowers themselves are much smaller, but they are just a sensational purple blue. They provide a great contrast to all the yellow and reds later in the season, and stand up to heat and rain like troupers. And they make great cut flowers in arrangements too. Even their stems are blue. I had never heard of this plant, or seen it actually, but bought some thinking it was sage, the herb. Gotta pay better attention at the nursery, as if! I get so excited I lose my calm perspective and forget to read the tags.

Mostly unopened buds, with the newly opened ones at the bottom of the bunch. I have about 8 plants of the new variety, Evolution, which are said to have a deeper blue flower. Here's the catalog description:
'Evolution' really is a whole new generation for Salvia, with richer blooms, better branching, more compact plants, superb weather resistance, and an extra-long season of bloom. Every bloomstalk on these sturdy little plants is packed with deep violet-purple blooms, far brighter and less prone to fading than older varieties. They begin in early to midsummer and keep going right into fall, extending your season of color in the Sage garden by several weeks. What a low maintenance plant! This plant puts up with bad weather from heat and humidity to drought and unseasonable cold. It's unstoppable! This plant can be a perennial in zones 9-11. In zones 3-8 it is an annual only.
Mine self seeded several times!