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Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

Beautiful dark blue flowers that hummingbirds love. Unfortunately, it tried to take over my flower bed. Extremely aggressive, I've pulled the original 3 plants and the remaining roots are still popping up new plants 4 months later, even through the landscaping fabric!! Had I known it was so aggressive, I wouldn't have planted it. Replaced it with a salvia greggii.

As already stated, a beautiful plant, gorgeous color and hummers love it, but....it has become a real thug in my garden. Completely died to the ground over winter, but came back with a vengeance and has overtaken and choked out everything around. Trying to eradicate it is challenging, to say the least. Just when I think I have pulled up every little underground runner...up pops a bright green leaf! I would only recommend this for out of the way areas or in a container. I'm not sure even a container could control it!

This is my first spring with this newly added beauty to the garden, unsure how it's going to perform in my zone, thus I'll leave this as anitial entry, plus picture of how lovely it looks in my sunny flower bed.

I planted this two years ago and it has become one of my faves. Everyone that sees it loves it, and it is a favorite of the hummingbirds also, as well as hummingbird moths. Last year the two together grew over three feet wide and three feet tall. I'm getting a little afraid that it may turn invasive on me since I have five plants coming up in the bed this year and three more in the grassy path, but it'll be worth the trouble.

One of my favorite Salvias! I love it and so do the Hummers! Very beautiful in bloom! Beautiful blue color! It's an annual for me in zone 6a and I get new plants each year, but gotta have it!

I discovered this plant just this year, and wonder how I ever got along without it!!
I bought 3, in quart pots, at my favorite garden center.
At first, I wasn't impressed with it, but after a few weeks in the ground, I was in awe.
The foliage and blooms look rather delicate, but this is a sturdy, easy care plant, that requires very little water or fertilizer, to put on a glorious show.
I have many red and trumpet shaped flowers for the Hummers to feast on, but these plants were their absolute favorites!!
The only problem I had, was locating any seeds from them. Never did find any. rats.
Two of the plants are close to the foundation of my home, so I'm hoping they overwinter. If not, I WILL be seeking out more, next year. A lovely addition to any landscape.

The hummingbirds come to this plant first in my yard, and I have many of their favorites, flame acanthus, red salvias, and turks cap. I have 2 of the b&b and the one that gets just a little bit of shade does the best. The other gets afternoon reflected heat off the fence and it suffers in July/August. I do worry that if I don't watch for the underground offshoots in early spring when it starts to leaf out that it could be a little invasive, but if caught early, the offshoots are easily removed. Highly recommend this easy perennial.

In the spring I planted 3 four-inch tall 'Black and Blue' plants in a dry, sunny area of my garden where I couldn't get much to grow. They rewarded me with amazing growth by summer, reaching almost 5 feet tall. In my garden, they bloom constantly until the first freeze. The flowers are gorgeous, and the scent of the leaves is amazing. And they reseed very nicely as well. They enjoy a good drink once a week unless it's really hot- then an extra watering or two keeps them happy.

One of my favorite activities is watching all the bees and hummingbirds flock around these plants. It's really funny to see the huge bumblebees try to get to the nectar of these narrow flowers. Many bees 'cheat' to get to the nectar; they make a small hole in the calyx of the flower to get to it. I have enough hummingbirds to ensure pollination of them, though!

I wish my guaranitica would spread; I love everything about it!! My plant's been growing in my garden for 3 years and hasn't expanded it's footprint at all. It's tall, healthy, and blue. Everyone who's seen it has wanted one.

I planted some of these as annuals about 3 years ago, but much to my surprise they've come back from the roots every year since. I planted them in a full sun spot with sandy very well drained soil. They've been through about -3F here so far and they only die back to the ground. I think the sandy well drained soil might help them survive colder temperatures than they normally would. It might be just a matter of time until we have a cold enough winter to kill them, but I'm going to enjoy them until that happens!

I saved one of these plants from a whole collection of dying ones at a Lowe's... it's definitely thanked me. It's growing beautifully in an 85%-shaded area, which is what I think saves it from wilting if it hasn't been watered within a week. When I can, I'll try to grow a cutting to place in more sunlight; hopefully it's hardy enough to survive here without a tree to shelter it since I really love salvias but don't have enough "dappled" shade. (I wouldn't suggest "full sun" for at least 75% of plants that say they can take full sun here!)

This is one of my favorite plants, it seems to bloom so well. It is such a nice companion to reds and yellows in the perrenial beds.

Does extremely well in Houston, Tx. I bought this plant at a sale last fall and didn't know if it would make it through winter. It not only made it, it never stopped blooming! The tag said it would be 18" x 18", but mine is already about 36" x 36" and I'm not sure how much larger it will get as it's only April. Spectacularly intense blue blooms. It's placed in front of a yellow Esperanza and the combination is beautiful.

BEWARE INVASIVE: This thing is as invasive as mint and spreads by underground runners. It has completely taken over the bed it's in and has choked out every other plant there. It now covers an area about 4' x 10' and I am unable to eradicate it. I pull a ton of it out every morning and it's still spreading. I may have to move!

I am growing this plant in my self-watering window boxes, and it is very unhappy with the constantly moist soil. It had scale and aphids earlier in the season and is now dropping many of its leaves (which have turned yellow with brown edges). However, the blossoms are still beautiful, and attract hummingbirds. I will try growing it again next year in a drier location.

Best plant in garden for attracting hummingbirds and a bonus White-lined Sphinx Moth.

grows well in Tulsa and Sand Springs ok.

The blooms are a stunning color and the hummingbirds love it! We bought ours late in the season this year, so it hasn't gotten that big, but I hope it will grow a bit taller next year.

When I saw these particular plants together at my local nursery I thought it had seed pods on it with the flower buds being BLACK and then I looked closer and noticed the BLUE flowers and then I looked at the tag and saw the name B:ACK and BLUE and I thought it would be an cool plant for a drier part of my garden. In the sunlight you can really see the black and blue standing out.

I agree that this is a very attractive plant...for me to look at and for the bees and butterflies to enjoy. However, before I brought mine home Feb 2003, no one mentioned anything at all about how it would spread by underground roots (I suppose). Last year it grew nearly 4 feet tall and wide and was almost stunning against my white board fence. This year I was surprised to find that I have the original plant and 4 of its offspring...they're growing within 3 or 4 feet of the mother plant. While I think they're attractive to look at...especially right now with the black stems and chartreuse leaves...I didn't particularly want them to completely invade my side yard and 1 came up on the other side of my fence in my neighbor's yard. If it continues to spread like this, I may have to completely relocate it to the wilder back perimeter of our property. Be warned...no one warned me.

'Black and Blue' Salvia guaranitica has cobalt blue, tubular, 2 inch long blooms that have a hood-like upper lip and a shorter lower lip that points downward. The dark stems and dark purple, nearly black calyces (the structures that enclose the base of the petals) make it a very interesting looking plant. They do not smell like anise. The individual flowers appear on showy 10-15 inch spikes. It does best in part shade/ filtere shade in my yard. The summer heat and sun causes it to wilt if it receives too much sun. But, if it is in total shade, its bloom production is poor. It has produced new plants by short runners.

This plant is a tender perennial in zone 6 (western NY) so I planted it in a container so that I can overwinter it in my garage. It was very small when I purchased it in a 4" pot. this spring. It is now nearly 3 ft. tall (Sept) and blooming prolifically. My hummingbirds have really enjoyed it tremendously this summer.

This plant did well in a semi-protected part of my yard in full sun. It has come back each year bigger and more full of blooms. Zone 7 Atlanta

S. guaranitica 'Black & Blue' is an improved version of this shrub-like perennial, as it does not spread as much as other varieties.

A black calyx sets off short deep blue flower spikes approx 1" long. Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. A very showy specimen.