Blue Sage (Salvia azurea) in the Salvias Database

General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit:	Herb/Forb
Life cycle:	Perennial
Sun Requirements:	Full Sun
Water Preferences:	Dry Mesic Dry
Minimum cold hardiness:	Zone 5a -28.9 °C (-20 °F) to -26.1 °C (-15 °F)
Maximum recommended zone:	Zone 9b
Plant Height:	3 to 5 feet
Plant Spread:	2 to 4 feet
Leaves:	Unusual foliage color Other: Down covered leaves and stems.
Flowers:	Showy
Flower Color:	Blue
Bloom Size:	Under 1"
Flower Time:	Summer Late summer or early fall Fall
Suitable Locations:	Xeriscapic
Wildlife Attractant:	Bees Butterflies Hummingbirds
Resistances:	Deer Resistant
Propagation: Seeds:	Suitable for wintersowing Sow in situ
Propagation: Other methods:	Cuttings: Stem Division

Common names

Blue Sage
Pitcher sage
Salvia
Wild Blue Sage

Botanical names

Accepted: Salvia azurea
Synonym: Salvia azurea var. grandiflora
Synonym: Salvia azurea subsp. pitcheri
Synonym: Salvia pitcheri
Synonym: Salvia azurea subsp. media

Blue Sage (Salvia azurea) was a featured
Plant of the Day for April 25, 2016.

Photo Gallery

Location: my garden, Utah
Date: 2020-08-23

Uploaded by dirtdorphins

Location: my garden, Utah
Date: 2018-08-12

Uploaded by dirtdorphins

Uploaded by pixie62560

Uploaded by duane456

Uploaded by dirtdorphins

Location: Lake Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia
Date: 2018-03-11

Uploaded by carolem

Courtesy Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek

Uploaded by vic

Uploaded by pixie62560

Location: Lake Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia
Date: 2018-03-01

Uploaded by carolem

Location: Georgia, USA
Date: Late Summer

Uploaded by Danita

Location: Hamilton Square Perennial Garden, Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento CA.
Date: 2015-09-16
Sone 9b. Two year old plant performing well through the drought w

Uploaded by HamiltonSquare

Location: western Oregon
Date: summer/fall 2012

Uploaded by duane456

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by Gerris2

Location: Wood County, TX
Date: 2020-09-15

Uploaded by SunriseSide

Location: Lake Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia
Date: 2017-12-23

Uploaded by carolem

Location: Aberdeen, NC (my garden 2022)
Gulf Fritillary (Dione vanillae) nectaring on Pineapple sage #103

Uploaded by WebTucker

Uploaded by Danita

Location: Southern Pines, NC (Boyd House garden)
Date: May 13, 2023
Blue Sage # 443; RAB p. 913, 164-22-4; LHB p. 858, 176-18-17; AG

Uploaded by WebTucker

Location: Lilburn, GA
Date: 2020-05-01
seedling

Uploaded by mmolyson

Date: c. 1815
illustration from 'Curtis's Botanical Magazine', 1815

Uploaded by scvirginia

Uploaded by SunriseSide

Location: Wilmington, Delaware USA
Date: 2020-08-24

Uploaded by Gerris2

Uploaded by mmolyson

Location: Southern Pines, NC (Boyd House garden)
Date: November 4, 2023
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) nectaring on Blue Sage #

Uploaded by WebTucker

Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5
Date: 2011-10-18

Uploaded by chelle

Uploaded by WebTucker

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by bootandall

Location: In backyard garden, Elk Grove, CA
Date: 2014-4-26
Blue sage

Uploaded by Ecograndma

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Date: 2020-08-30
Salvia azurea, Blue Sage - Seed from Prairie Moon Nursery

Uploaded by dnrevel

Uploaded by SL_gardener

Uploaded by vic

Location: all photos from my garden
Date: 2010-07-27

Uploaded by poisondartfrog

Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5b
Date: 2013-10-13
Third year plant in zone 5b.

Uploaded by chelle

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission

Uploaded by Joy

Uploaded by DianeSeeds

Location: Hamilton Square Perennial Garden, Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento CA.
Date: 2014-08-29

Uploaded by HamiltonSquare

Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5
Date: 2011-10-22

Uploaded by chelle

Uploaded by chelle

Photo courtesy of Annie's Annuals and Perennials

Uploaded by Calif_Sue

Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5
Date: 2011-10-18
Close-up

Uploaded by chelle

Location: central Illinois
Date: 9-19-12

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: central Illinois
Date: 2012-09-19

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5
Date: 2011-10-17
This entire plant is covered in fuzziness.

Uploaded by chelle

Uploaded by WebTucker

Location: My garden in Kentucky
Date: 2006-09-25
Closeup

Uploaded by Marilyn

Uploaded by Calif_Sue

Location: central Illinois
Date: 2012-09-26

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: western Oregon
Date: 2015-12-27

Uploaded by duane456

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Uploaded by duane456

Location: Wilmington, Delaware USA
Started blooming this week

Uploaded by Gerris2

Uploaded by pixie62560

Location: Lake Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia
Date: 2017-12-23
though upright here, eventually the stems tend to lay to the grou

Uploaded by carolem

Location: Plano, TX
Date: 2017-03-09
Seeds germinated in 9 days.

Uploaded by TexasPlumeria87

Location: central Illinois
Date: 2012-09-20

Uploaded by jmorth

Uploaded by chelle

Uploaded by admin

Location: My Northeastern Indiana Gardens - Zone 5
Date: 2011-10-18
These plants like dry soil, so don't let this image fool you. (Th

Uploaded by chelle

Uploaded by jmorth

Uploaded by jmorth

Location: My garden in Kentucky
Date: 2006-09-25

Uploaded by Marilyn

Location: My garden in Kentucky
Date: 2006-09-25
Gorgeous blue color!

Uploaded by Marilyn

Location: Wilmington, Delaware USA
Date: 2020-05-17

Uploaded by Gerris2

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.

Uploaded by Joy

Uploaded by Joy

Uploaded by vic

Uploaded by vic

This plant is tagged in:

Comments:

Posted by jmorth (central Illinois) on Sep 20, 2012 12:25 PM concerning plant:

Wild Blue Sage is a rare plant in Illinois with state-listed 'threatened' status, Distribution map on Illinois Prairie Plants site shows its presence in only a few counties; photo submitted was taken in a not highlighted county (Christian Co.)
The preference is full sun and dry, well-drained conditions. Different kinds of soil are acceptable, including those that contain significant amounts of loam, clay, or gravel. A high pH is tolerated. The seed germinates readily, often producing flowering plants during the first year. This is a surprisingly easy plant to grow, with few problems from disease.

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Posted by Danita (GA - Zone 7b) on Sep 30, 2011 1:20 AM concerning plant:

Salvia azurea is a lovely, easy-to-grow plant here. It blooms in late summer and fall with long wispy stems topped with sky blue flowers. The hummingbirds and butterflies use this plant some, but it's more of a bee plant. It's been very drought tolerant and has survived severe drought and watering bans.

My Climate: USDA Zone 7b, AHS Heat Zone 7/8, Humid

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Posted by Marilyn (Kentucky - Zone 6a) on May 25, 2013 2:29 PM concerning plant:

"Salvia azurea (Prairie sage or Blue sage) is a herbaceous perennial in the genus Salvia that is native to Central and Eastern North America.

Its thin, upright stems can grow to 6 feet tall, with narrow, pointed, smooth-edged to serrated, furry to smooth green leaves, connected to their stems by petioles to .4 inches long. There are no basal leaves.

The blue flowers (rarely white), nearly 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, appear summer to autumn near the ends of their branched or unbranched spikes; their calyxes are tubular or bell-shaped and furry. Two varieties are Salvia azurea var. azurea (azure sage) and Salvia azurea var. grandiflora (pitcher sage). It is found on the wild on roadsides, glades, fields and pastures."

Taken from wikipedia's page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

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Posted by chelle (N.E. Indiana - Zone 5b, and Florida - Zone 9b - Zone 9b) on Jan 10, 2013 7:25 AM concerning plant:

Salvia azurea plants are in their third year here, so they are reliably hardy to at least zone 5b. Plants bloomed first year from seed sown early.

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Posted by imabirdnut (North Texas - Zone 7b) on Aug 16, 2012 3:51 PM concerning plant:

Very attractive to bees & butterflies

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Posted by plantladylin (Sebastian, Florida - Zone 10a) on Mar 1, 2013 4:30 PM concerning plant:

Salvia azurea is a perennial native here in Florida, found in the northern and central parts of the state. The species name azurea means "Sky Blue," referring to the lovely flower color. Blue Sage has thin 2"-4" long leaves with toothed margins and appearing opposite on a slender upright, hairy stem. Whorls of three to four bright blue (occasionally white) 1/2"-3/4" flowers are borne in clusters on a 6"-18" elongated spike. Flower form is a long tube with an upper lip and a longer 2-lobed lower lip. The fruit of Salvia azurea is an open cup-shaped, elongated brown pod containing 4 small brown nut-like seeds. Blue Sage is found in habitats of dry woods and pinelands and the flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

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Plant Events from our members
lovesblooms	On March 1, 2020	Seeds sown winter sow
lovesblooms	On March 18, 2015	Seeds germinated
lovesblooms	On January 25, 2015	Seeds sown winter sown
MrsBinWY	On July 11, 2023	Seeds sown On 7-11-2023 sowed 50-ish light seeds to check their germination, milk jug, summer room temp.
MrsBinWY	On June 27, 2021	Transplanted 2 on 6-26-21 behind Iris pallida; 5 on 8-14-2021 in alley, in front of ash pit; 6 in alley on 8-14-2021 west of single, pink climbing rose
MrsBinWY	On March 18, 2021	Potted up 3-18-21: 18 of the 33 sinkers (54.5%) and 20 of the 55 floaters (36.4%) 3-19-21: 7 more sinkers (21.2%) and 4 floaters (7.3%) germinated 3-20-21: 2 more sinkers (6.1%) and 1 floater (1.8%) 3-21-21: 4 more sinkers (12.1%) and 1 floater (1.8%) 3-22-21: 0 3-23-21: 0 3-24-21: 0 3-25-21: 0 more sinkers (0.0%) and 1 floater (1.8%) 3-26-21: 0 3-27-21: 0 more sinkers (0.0%) and 1 floater (1.8%) 3-28-21: 0 3-29-21: 1 more sinker (3.0%) and 0 floaters (0.0%) Cumulative sinkers = 31/33, 93.9% Cumulative floaters = 28/55, 50.9% 8 didn't send up cotyledons (didn't keep track of which were sinkers and floaters at this point); 1 had a stuck seed coat & I waited too long to remove it or I damaged the cotyledons when I did remove it
MrsBinWY	On March 17, 2021	Seeds germinated So, the sinker-floater theory is blown. Lots of seeds in each group have germinated.
MrsBinWY	On March 13, 2021	Seeds sown Experiment: I have pretty poor luck discerning viable seeds from non-viable seeds of this species (visually, air separation, etc.) This time, I put a pinch of seeds in a bowl of water, skimmed off the "floaters" (55) and then strained the "sinkers" (33). I put each group on its own coffee filter, in its own zipper baggie and left at room temp.
MrsBinWY	On June 23, 2019	Transplanted On 6-23-2019, planted 2 from the LCMG Plant Sale in the front near Marci's Coreopsis (lanceolata?).
MrsBinWY	On March 31, 2018	Potted up 5
MrsBinWY	On March 14, 2018	Seeds germinated 2
MrsBinWY	On March 10, 2018	Seeds sown 16 seeds from 2014G in milk jug @ warm room temp
CarolineScott	On November 5, 2018	Seeds sown
dnrevel	On May 15, 2023	Plant emerged Spotted, green growth. Will need to remember to cut it back as it can be a very tall plant.
dnrevel	On January 17, 2022	Seeds sown Winter sowed new 2021 seed collected from plant for 2022 year. Did well as 2021 new front yard gardens plant.
dnrevel	On June 17, 2021	Transplanted Transplanting other plants in front gardens.
dnrevel	On March 19, 2021	Seeds sown Winter Sown (end of WS season) - Seed gathered from plant in 2020 Needs 30 days of cool weather before planting. Good for Winter Sowing. Germination usually takes 1-2 weeks. Obtained seed from Prairie Moon Nursery in 2019. 2nd Year for WS in 2021.
foru2c	On February 26, 2023	Seeds sown Fingers crossed 🤞 these germinate, jug #14 (praire moon). Jug #22 is also a blue sage salvia (rareseeds)
WebTucker	On May 13, 2023	Bloomed

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Salvias Blue Sage (Salvia azurea)

Salvias

Blue Sage (Salvia azurea)