Sage Blue Salvia Farinacea grows as a sub-shrub perennial in warmer climates and as an annual where winter temperatures stay below freezing for more than a few hours at a time. Sage Blue seeds can be started indoors or directly outdoors, and also commonly called Mealy Cup Sage, Salvia Farinacea features silver-green foliage with long, toothed leaves and produces multiple spikes of showy, about an inch long, bright blue flowers that are arranged in loose whorls along the upright stems. Mealy Cup Sage blooms over a long season starting in spring. The showy, fragrant Blue Sage flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
Sage Blue makes a good bedding plant and useful in borders where brilliant color is desired, or Blue Sage can be grown at the back of a border and in combination with other flowering annuals and perennials for an English cottage garden effect. Salvia Farinacea seeds produce the plant that requires a little care and maintains itself year after year. Mealy Cup Sage is often grown as an eye-catching blue-flowered hedge which is in bloom for months.
PLANT PROFILE
Season: Perennial/Annual
Height: 24-36 Inches
Bloom Season: Spring/Summer/Fall
Environment: Sun/Partial Shade
Soil Type: Average/Poor/Moist well-drained, pH 5.5-6.5
USDA Zones: 7-11 (As Perennial) All Regions of North America (As Annual)
PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS
Sow Indoors: Winter/Spring (10-12 weeks before last frost)
Sow Outdoors: Spring/Fall
Seed Depth: 1/16 Inch
Germination Time: 14-30 Days