It’s hard to beat Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia). What other plant has this beautiful lavender blue color, for months at a time, with such a rugged constitution? This plant tolerates, even relishes, New Mexico’s climate. It laughs at both the blistering heat of summer and winter’s cold and dramatic temperature fluctuations. Dry? No problem. Rabbits and deer don’t touch it. The colors are beautiful in New Mexico’s landscape, the grey leaves look right at home, and the clouds of blue echo the big sky. It has a nice scent to its leaves. It is so tough that when a moving truck (one the big ones) ran over a planting where I used to live, after pruning it sprang back and was beautiful in a couple months. It’s no wonder that this plant is so widely used here.
But it’s not a perfect plant. Some problems exist. It attracts bees like crazy, which I happen to like, but it’s not such a great thing around pools or patios. Fortunately the bees are so excited by their find that they generally ignore people. It also doesn’t grow well in shade.
That ruggedness is a double-edged sword. What makes it so easy to grow and adapted to our climate means that it can fend for itself. Even somewhere we don’t want it. The seeds from my neighbor’s plant come up in cracks in the asphalt and in my yard, and those tenacious plants in less hospitable environments than a garden can look ratty. A sidewalk planting of Russian Sage near my house was made several years ago. The wild space across the road now has Russian Sage growing through the Chamisa, the Sphaeralcea, and Solanums. It’s actually rather pretty, but it makes me wonder if it will start invading our open spaces, crowding out the native plants.
Even more difficult to control are the plant’s suckers. Russian sage suckers like it is trying to take over the world. My neighbor’s plant sends suckers between cracks in the concrete block and asphalt, between the boulders and rock mulch, spreading from its original corner to 12 feet or more. The plant is resistant to Roundup. Digging out the suckers is a waste of time: a whole afternoon digging a trench around the plant and tracing each sucker only results in more suckers two weeks later. Although the fragrance is nice when the plant is brushed against, pulling the suckers makes the fragrance too much of a good thing, and its stickiness is hard to get off the hands.
You can control Russian Sage somewhat by planting with underground barriers (but it doesn’t stop seeds). It is also a great plant for urban areas where the root zone is restricted and the plant performs beautifully despite the harsh conditions. But there’s more to life than Russian Sage. As attractive as Russian Sage is, the idea of Albuquerque as a monoculture is not particularly appealing.
Admittedly, there isn’t much, if anything, that can compete with Russian Sage’s combination of beauty, color, long period of bloom, and water thriftiness. The commonly planted Caryopteris x clandonensis varieties come close. The coloring of the plant is similar, although the leaves are less silver. The mounding habit has a grace of its own, and the plants bloom for a couple months. It self-seeds in irrigated gardens, but seedlings are easy to pull and the plant doesn’t sucker. It requires slightly more water than Russian Sage, and comes in various shades. It also comes in golden leafed varieties (sickly looking in our climate).
The genus Salvia has many options. Although the native Salvia azurea blooms for only a couple weeks in the late summer to fall, the flowers more closely match the true-blue of New Mexico’s skies, instead of the lavender tone of Russian Sage. As the plant ages, the bloom time lengthens. The leaves are more green than grey, and the plant has a lanky, weedy appearance. This can be rather easily camouflaged with careful placement, for example behind silvery Artemesia filifolia, or Artemesia ‘Powis Castle.’ In my garden it needs almost no water, and self seeds modestly. Salvia chamaedryoides has similar flower color in a small rounded plant that can spread slowly through underground stems. It flowers heavily in spring, then off/on through summer depending on water availability. Leaves are silver and the plants require little water.
Despite my resistance, I’ve fallen for Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ (shown above). It blooms continuously from early summer to fall with deep indigo flower spikes a foot or more long and medium green leaves. It grows to more than four feet tall and wide. My hesitance is that it needs regular irrigation and garden conditions to look its best. It also wilts pathetically in the afternoon in hot western or southern exposures even with irrigation, but pops back once the sun is off its leaves. Salvia pachyphylla (and the closely related Salvia dorrii) has bright blue-violet flowers, but with the reddish purple bracts, it appears more purple than blue. Grey leaves, long bloom period, and low water needs recommend these plants. The hybrid Salvia ‘Trident’ has impressive violet blue flowers in candelabras and silver leaves. So far in my garden it bloomed in the spring and requires little water. It rebloomed in the monsoon this year’s particularly wet weather. Leaves are wonderfully fragrant, but not as lusciously so as its parent S. clevelandii. Salvia lavandulifolia also has beautifully fragrant leaves, and these are showy spades of grey leaves. This woefully underused plant has pale lavender wands of flowers in spring. These last three sages retain foliage in the winter: an advantage over Russian Sage.
Don’t forget about the smaller Salvias such as S. nemerosa which has various varieties (including the popular ‘May Night’), dramatic spring bloom (earlier than Russian Sage) and reblooms if cut back and irrigated. Remember also the common culinary sage (Salvia officinalis) with its grey leaves and lavender wands in spring. It retains winter foliage as well.
The various blue Penstemons don’t really fill the same niche as Russian Sage, but should be thought of if blue is desired. Penstemon linarioides can have similar coloration, with leaves from silver to green, and flowers from a powdery lavender blue to dark violet. It blooms in early spring, long before Russian Sage. Some varieties will rebloom in the summer monsoon season.
Veronica incana has similar color and form as Russian Sage, but in a much smaller plant. The broad silver leaves an inch or so long reflect light and mostly remain in the winter, sometimes turning reddish. The light violet spikes of bloom appear in early summer and last for a few weeks. It requires a bit of irrigation. Other smaller plants with a similar color as Perovskia are the catmints, or Nepeta. There are a variety of forms and sizes. Check out the selections at Digging Dog Nursery for a bunch of (irresistable) options.
Why not think of common Rosemary for a location similar to Russian Sage? Rosemary has a lot going for it. The late winter/early spring blue flowers can cover the plants for many weeks, and in more shades of blue or white. It forms a similar size as Russian sage and requires little water, but remains green in the winter, rarely self-seeds and doesn’t sucker. Commonly found varieties include ‘Tuscan Blue,’ which has the deepest blue-violet flower color and green leaves, and ‘Arp’ with grey leaves and pale blue flowers. Worth searching for are ‘Irene’ with weeping habit and gorgeous violet flowers (unlike the pale flowers of the common ‘Prostratus’), ‘Blue Spires’ with sculptural upright growth and bright blue flowers, and ‘Gorizia’ with double sized pale blue flowers and green leaves. Some rosemaries reflower in the summer, given water.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Teucrium frutescens performs in my garden. This meditteranean shrub has oval silver leaves and a long blooming period of blue flowers similar to rosemary. Its rather open habit gives the shrub a delicate appearance.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the beauty of Russian Sage. After all, I can’t help but think that the ecologically toxic Lythrum in Minnesota is beautiful, too. But we have other options. Just as a single design is not appropriate for all spaces, we have many options. We may as well use them.
