PlantFiles: Pitcher Sage, Wild Blue Sage
Salvia azurea 'Grandiflora'

Growing slowly but surely in my hot and humid midAtlantic garden. Very leggy. Needs propped/staked or just let it wind low through the garden.

The color is an intense true blue. Foliage is fragrant.

This non-fussy plant really attracts the bees and hummingbirds late in the summer when little else is blooming. I did not cut mine back last year and it grew to about 3.5 feet tall and got rather lanky and started to lean on other plants. The strong stems never broke, though, and held up through wet weather. It did not have a problem with our hot humid summers and its cool blue was a welcome addition to the garden. I think this year I will pinch it back in June to see how the habit changes. Unpinched, it is not a plant for a formal garden as it will sprawl a bit.

This salvia is a fall blooming prairie flower that has large, tough, deep roots and strong tall stems, so it can compete with prairie grasses. It occurs naturally from South Carolina to Nebraska to Mexico. In Texas, it's found native in the Piney Woods, Post Oak Woods, Blackland Prairies, and the Edwards Plateau in sandy, loamy, clay, and limestone soils as long as they are well drained. In its natural ecosystem, its used to having shaded roots so it does take some water to become established and appreciates having the base of the plant shaded by taller, bushier plants in the garden, espiecially in mid to late summer. The usual height is 1.5-2.5' but if well watered in a garden setting it can attain a height of 6' and prefers a spacing of about 2'. To increase fall blooming, cut the plant to just a few leaves in mid-summer where it will become more mult-stemmed. Blooms sky blue to white and keeps a winter rosette form. Another favorite in my garden which is very easily grown from both seed (where it flowers in the first year) and cuttings.