Featured Plant: Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea)

If annuals are the workhorses of the flower garden, mealy cup sage is a thoroughbred. Since the blue flowers of 'Victoria' first hit the nurseries, Salvia farinacea has been a star. How nice it was to find out that Salvia farinacea is also a native of Texas and Mexico and that it’s a perennial in warmer climates. It’s usually an annual for me, but I willingly buy it every year.

The blue blends well with so many other colors, especially my favorite combination of blue and yellow. I recently told Arnold Falk, on Twitter, that my garden looks like a Boy Scout’s Jamboree with all the blue and gold in bloom. I use Salvia farinacea as my color anchor, tucking it throughout my garden border. It unifies the color scheme and it makes sure there is something in bloom all the time.

I could live with just S. farinacea 'Victoria', but mealy cup sage does come in other colors; there’s white and there’s blue and white. What Salvia farinacea lacks in variety it more than makes up for in quality. But if there are any plant breeders out there, how about a nice pink or apricot mealy cup?

Photo: © Marie Iannotti