Everyone loves a blue salvia and I certainly fell for ‘So Cool Pale Blue’. It is one of a series of ‘So Cool’ salvias recently bred in Australia and launched in the UK in 2018. The breeders wanted to produce woody varieties with cool colours on reliable and compact plants. These salvias are also very hardy and dependable.
It sounds a bit nitpicky of me but I would have left out the ‘Pale’ in its name – that epithet makes it sound insipid which it certainly is not. This bushy perennial has the trademark aromatic foliage of so many salvias, and it bears masses of luminous blue tubular flowers which are held on purple calyces – the effect is gorgeous – and the nectar rich blooms are loved by bees and butterflies.
‘So Cool Pale Blue’ has a very long flowering season from summer right through to the end of October. I’m growing mine in pots because they seem to do so well there, and their unusual colour complements almost all of my tender plants. The series includes ‘So Cool Lilac, Purple, Violet and Pink’ and if they are as good as my subject today, I’ll be looking out for them.
* PBR stands for Plant Breeder’s Rights which are a type of intellectual property that protects certain new varieties of plants, and the holder of PBR has exclusive rights for up to 25 years. However you can propagate and increase your own stock, but you are not allowed to sell these offspring.
NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Each Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 and is for sale in our online shop here.
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