Rockin'^® Playin' The Blues^® Salvia longispicata x farinacea

I have 5 of these beautiful plants in the ground. This is year three for them and every year they come back better than before. All Salvias grow well in my zone 9b California garden, PWs playin' the blues are by far the show stoppers.

I love these flowers and so many of the pollinators do to! I have several from the website and others I bought at nurseries. I'm heartbroken that we had a wind and rainstorm come thru and all of them collapsed with the bumblebees sleeping on them and not sure how many survived. From now on with these plants I'll be planting with square cages to keep them propped up. I don't care about the beauty they add to my home but the pollinators attraction and survival of them, so the presence of cages is minuscule. I have them planted in deep fabric pots and learned to not place them near birdbaths etc underneath or water too near the plants. I've had a couple drown by not realizing they can accidentally fall in. I'm just sharing my own learning experiences so others don't make the same mistakes. I'll be getting at least a half dozen next year and do a better job of protecting them from the elements when Mother Nature is in charge. I'm so sad right now.

I probably have about 6 of these thru PW online and other plant selling locations. All planted in 10 and 15gal fabric pots only because of our underground critters getting to the roots like last years RPtB's and are also placed on top of 1/4" hardware cloth. Lordy, they are huuuuge and loving the pots. Yes I do have to water more often but it's easier in the fabric for me. Plus I can move them on my hand cart easily if I find any plant needing more or less sun. There's bumblebees galore but no butterflies except for an occasional one to fly thru and need a quick pick me up then they're off. I have some RPtB's in about 6-8hrs of sun and 3 others in about 3-4hrs. I'm in zone 7B Mid-Atlantic so the sun is brutal with the humidity. For my area the 3-4hrs are doing better and that's the hottest part of the day of sun exposure. I gave them LOTS of Bio tone and PW Slow Release fertilizer (I mean ALOT. Dirt, BT, slow release, dirt BT, slow release in layers) when planted and it's now August so I started supplementing with Alas ka fish fertilizer until the bees hibernate. If you go the fabric pot route, take my advice, one plant per pot in 10gal ones. But I do have one planted with Bubblegum Super Petunias and I think the RPtB's isn't getting enough room to root out or the sun is too intense so it could be a combo factor going on. It's in full sun in the longest part of the day morning till about 6pm. RPtB's just won't stop producing these amazing stalks of flowers. If you're looking for a stand alone Thriller plant, this is the one for you and the Bee's will thank you so much for it.

It's a favorite in our garden. Easy to grow and butterflies and bees love it!

I bought 2 at my local nursery in NC this year. They grew quickly and became a huge attraction for the bees and butterflies. Question though, I'm on the edge of the hardiness zone so if they're treated as a perinneal, do u cut them back in the winter?