You're picking the wrong plant, salvias don't get past two feet but there are plenty of plants that do. Delphiniums and monkshood to name a couple.

If you're only shopping in local stores (big box stores??), you'll be limited as to what you will be able to find. They usually carry the most popular plants and taller varieties may not be what most people like or want.

Check out some of the online sources. You'll find a a much wider selection. I just did a quick Google for "tall salvias" if you're really set on salvias. The first source that popped up was Plants Delight Nursery. They have a whole slew of salvias in the 3-4 foot range and others shorter. I don't know what zone you're in since you don't say, so some of them may not be hardy in your area, but they do exist.

Kevin

This post was edited by aachenelf on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 19:04

Liatris spicata/gayfeather gets close to 3 ft. tall in my full sun beds. There are some Campanulas/bellflowers that also get some decent height to them. Both are slightly more reliable than delphinium depending on what zone you're in.

I checked Swallowtail Garden Seeds and Campanula medium 'Cup & Saucer' grows
3 ft. tall. They're reasonably easy to grow from seed via winter sowing.

I know I'm always looking for compact sized plants because of my limited amount of space. I'm in an urban/suburban area, so there are undoubtedly many folks around here in the same boat as me. My big box stores carry mostly shorter varieties.

I copied this from the link:

"Many of the current and newly introduced perennials have a lot of color and are changing the marketplace. Most need some sort of help to increase flower production or shorten plants to aid in shipping and handling."

Most people don't get their plants from nurseries anymore, they get 'plant material' from the box stores. For best sales, plants should be compact and in bloom, and in order to get that they are often chemically treated with growth regulators. Spray to keep short, spray to branch, and spray to bloom and then sell it. Tall plants are too 'messy' and get damaged when being tossed around so aren't carried.... plus a shipping cart might only hold one shelf of tall lilies, but three shelves of a short one (takes up much less shipping room)
Try a local nursery for something taller, it might not be in bloom but someone there should be able to help find something that will do well over the years.

I like the short bedding look too, but for a garden I like to have levels of color..... plus I don't have much room so it's nice to sneak shorter plants in under the tall ones :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant growth regulators

Sorry, double posted!

This post was edited by kato_b on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 23:04

The demands of the market. Sellers and breeders are convinced that we all have tiny gardens which we want to stuff with numerous plants - there is a definite move towards shrinking cultivars....the abomination known as Pouffe - a vile pink campanula with full sized flowers on a half sized plant is the epitome of the trend. plants are treated with gibberellins, auxins and such to keep them artificially stunted - chrysanthemums and osteospermums are common recipients of this treatment (although happily, after a season, the hormones wear off and the plants will reach their full size in succeeding years - much to the annoyance of window box owners).

Even regular nurseries are falling victim to this. Each year it gets harder and harder to find full size snapdragons instead of those stunted abominations. I'm going to have to start sowing seeds which I normally don't bother doing.

Most hardy (in zone 6 on north) Salvias tend to be two feet or less in height. If you're willing to grow temperennials or borderline hardy Salvias, the choices improve.

Breeders and nurseries/home improvement stores carry lots of dwarfs because that's what a lot of people want. To get "unimproved" types you may have to grow plants from seed. For example, it's near impossible to find tall, graceful Platycodon plants for sale - there's just stunted dwarfs including the defective variety that never opens its flowers.

I second the motion to consider Liatris.

if you are relying.. on what shows up in a store... you are probably limiting yourself to one percent of 1 per cent.. of the options open to you.. in the plant world ...

i suggest you visit the winter sowing forum.. and start drinking milk... while you peruse seed catalogs ...

the milk is for the plastic gallon jugs to winter sow in ...

ken

Short plants are cheaper to ship--you can fit more in a truck when they are short.

They won't necessarily stay short. They are grown in greenhouses and are pinched back regularly so they will look nice and bushy. Unless the tag says it is a dwarf variety, it probably isn't.

I bought 3 speedwells at a big box store last year. They were pretty, full, and short. Two of them are doing well this year and are much taller but look kind of scraggly. I don't know if they were given growth inhibitors or not.

Ken: very entertaining but informative as always.

Sure is frustrating, isn't it? My favorite Gaura is 'Whirling Butterflies". It reaches a good 3'x3'. I planted one, and loved it so much I wanted to purchase 5-7 more the following year. None of the nurseries or box stores have carried it in the several years I have hunted--the 18" varieties are everywhere. All I can do is wait for seedlings to pop up, transplant, and wait for them to mature. I tried using the dwarf varieties, but they look pathetic in comparison.

They will grow from seed to flower in one season, GyrF, so if you don't find seedlings, just sow some next February. Mine always need replacing every few years because they grow so woody but they are one of the easiest perennials to sow.

I'd say your checking in the wrong store. Also, I have a Salvia that is 3' easy although the name escapes me at the moment. No big box store (in my area at least) has anything that would make visit them just for their plants. You definitely should go to an actual nursery/greenhouse and look for plants there. As for your dilemma on not finding tall spiky purple plants: Liatris are a good plant but other than veronica there isn't much else. You might also check Chelone (although more pink than purple), Vernonia (less spiky but kind of), garden phlox, agastache, etc. Perhaps lessening the requirement for 'spiky'? At that point, the possibilities are less limited. It's hard to find good variety somewhere other than an online nursery, i.e. Bluestone Perennials or Lazy S&S. Good luck though.

verbena spicata, verbena bonariensis, linaria purpurea, nepeta X faassenii, strobilanthes wallichii, asters various, penstemons various.....plenty of tall purple things but in one respect, Sequoiadendron 4 is quite right - you are likely to find a far, far better choice at a dedicated plant nursery.....and will have the satisfaction of helping to keep one of these small nurseries afloat in a dreadful economic climate.

I have what I call purple bell flower. I transplanted them from my neighbor this time last year. They got fairly tall last summer and did bloom, but this year they are up to my chin (I'm 5'7") I have them planted with lilies, tall feather reed grass and summer sun heliopsis (yellow) which is also as tall as the bell flower. I'll try to include a link of one I found on line. Mine are just now setting buds, which is nice as everything planted with/around them are too.
They will bloom until frost. Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple bell flower

Campanula, Those large sized gaura seem to take longer to get going, even with our a12 month growing season and mild winter of 2013. I have a seedling from last year that is only about 12" tall and a single stem now; another one is slightly larger and branched, but probably won't do much until next spring. I really wish I could find some one gal. sized stock. I'll probably just let them sprout where they may and move them while very young. There should be more seedlings this year, because I trimmed the stalks last year to encourage a rebloom, thinking I could find plants at the nurseries.

Salvias are a huge species that encompass nearly every color and size. I have 9 different perennial varieties in my yard and am still a salvia dilettante.
Indigo Spires is my tallest (although not THE tallest salvia) and makes a 6' wide 4' high tangled clump each summer.
My favorite is Victoria Blue Farinacea.

I agree, Bumblebeez - they are one of the only plants which encompass the entire colour spectrum.....and across the entire zonal range.

Also, a salvia dilettante (but planning on getting acquainted with many more).

Babera - creeping bellflower, aka campanbula rapunculoides will be setting off alarm bells in the heads of numerous GW members as it is a rampaging maniac (although admittedly beautiful). If you have space and a wilder area of the garden, this is a lovely bellflower (although I had fleeting reservations about growing it and I have 5 acres for it to charge through) If you have only recently planted it, you might like to think about hoiking it out of the ground and confining the roots in a bottomless pot (like mint) since it has a vigorous rhizome which WILL spread throughout your plants...........or, you can enjoy it while it is reasonably contained and then apply napalm death as soon as gets set for taking over the garden.

Re liking perennial salvias:

I also feel that the perennial salvias are some of the most useful plants in our mixed perennial beds.

With deadheading, they have a long bloom time and they're clump-forming (viz. well behaved). In addition, they're tough (survivors) and consequently have a life span which is longer than that of many other garden perennials.

I believe in using plants, in mixed perennial beds, that work. Our perennial salvias are prime examples of such plants.

Would catmint be a good choice if I can't find tall enough salvia? My plan is put it in near my knockout roses....

If you don't have cats around then I think it should work. I don't know if it spreads like regular mint. Mine are in containers.

I've had the same catmint for almost 10 years and it has never seeded or spread.

campanula,

How right you are...creeping bellflower, what a horribly invasive plant, and I didn't even plant it!...It just randomly popped up and I am having a devil of a time eradicating it. I even managed to rid the garden of goutweed, but not bellflower.

Try Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia). Mine are about 24" tall and long-lived.

They are initially grown under really strong lights and trimmed for bushiness. And deadheaded if any flower buds appear.

And that's the way to handle them from seeds at home.