Salvia, Blue Anise Sage, Brazilian Sage 'Costa Rica Blue'

I have grown this plant for three years now. It is a stunning salvia with brilliant Blue/Black flowers. The hummingbirds love it. I have ...Read Morea tropical landscape. The height of the plant (6ft-8ft) blends into my tropical setting in the Texas Hill Country. The Costa Rica Blue is planted in filtered shade and well drained soil. It does not require much attention. This year we had a very harsh winter for our area. Temperatures dropped into the 20's. I was concerned that I had lost all of the plants however, today I noticed new growth coming up. It is a difficult plant to find so if you want to continue to grow yours, I suggest you propagate or gather the seeds for sowing.

Origin: Costa Rica

Picked this up at a local nursery last year. I asked the associate if it was 'Black & Blue' salvia, to which she responded yes. As it t...Read Moreurned out, the plant grew and grew and then grew some more. I thought it would never flower and then lo and behold it sprang into flower in mid-September after reaching 6 ft tall.
I decided to try my luck at some cuttings last fall and this was one of the plants that took. This years plant reached well over 7 ft. tall and is still in flower (see pic at right) in mid-October despite low temps in the mid-30's last night. Unfortunately it has a lot of blooms that will probably get hit by frost this week.

This salvia is perennial and easy to grow here on the Ms Gulf coast.It is a hummingbird magnet. It grows in part shade or full sun in wel...Read Morel drained soil. If the PH is low(4.5 here) salvia benefits from lime in the form of bone meal or ground,dried shrimp and crab shells. The ground shrimp and crab shells also provide nitrogen and trace minerals. I have not had any problems with disease or insect pests.
the only minor problem is that the flowers are not a good cut flower as the blooms fall off. It is easily propagated by cuttings or divisions