Salvia, Mealy Cup Sage, Mealycup Sage 'Blue Bedder'

I love Blue Bedder, and so do the bees! It is very easy to grow from seed, and it's a great plant for poor soil. I grew mine in full sun,...Read More the soil was clay with lots of rock and gravel. There's wasn't a worse place in that garden. It reminds of me lavender, but is way easier to grow, it least for me.

The plants were about 12 inches tall, again in poor conditions. Withstood heat and drought fairly well. Grows quickly and isn't fussy.

GOOD PLANT BUT WAS ALMOST THREE FOOT TALL WITH REGULAR IRRIGATION! NEEDED A SHORTER VARIETY NOT 18" TALL IN DENVER

I love this plant. When the flowers die back and seeds form on the stalk, I just enclose the seeds by running my hand up the stalk. I the...Read Moren throw them around the garden. They come back every spring and stay throughout summer and fall. Deadheading some of the stalks keeps the plant from getting leggy.

I sowed these directly in the garden, and being new to the Salvia, identified it by its tall singular stem with actual light and dark str...Read Moreipes vertical along the shaft. Just over two months in, they started to bud. During the summer, they reached close to 4' tall with their flowers, and while mildly floppy, they have been more erect than not. In early fall they are still going strong, but looking lonely and leggy in the garden as everything else starts to die back. Note to self for future beds, interplant them with open shrubs around 2-3' tall. The nectar is popular with hummingbirds, as supplement to their Crocosmia diet, and gold finches are snacking on the dried seeds through mid fall. Last update is that none of them made it through the winter that dipped into the teens. Nothing but nothing is coming up in mid spring.