I was mistaken ie I was wrong re the ID of this Salvia. I stopped and asked the homeowner and she said it was an annual Salvia...but did not know which one.

Not sure what salvia is annual and purple. I grow several pink and red annual salvias (Salvia coccinea and S. splendens), and they are slowing down but still very pretty right now.

The real Salvia 'May Night' is stunning too, back in June. But mine has completely died back to sticks at the moment. It doesn't usually die back this much, but I'm not too worried because it's been a reliable showy bloomer since it was planted 6 or 7 years ago.

I have an annual salvia that is a dark purple, growing with red, white and blue salvia. Don't know what it's called, I threw away the tags.

Karen

Ken, for the life of me I cant figure out how to upload a picture which is on my c drive directly to this post. As this forum has the camera icon I thought this could be done but I see nowhere on the page after selecting "preview" the BROWSE 'button? What am I missing?

So here it is....might it be 'Mystic Spires Blue'?

{{gwi:270143}}

I have a couple May night, very impressive in May and early June, and had to cut to half so the foliage does not look too bad (in a front entrance garden). The 2nd bloom came back in August. much less impressive.

My favorite perrenial Salvia is Royal Crimson Distinction. Dark purple. almost ever blooming from mid June to early Sept. if dead headed. very neat and strong stems and leaves. leaves tuned beautiful dark purle in Septemeber. perfect with my fall mums, knockout roses, etc. This is the 3rd year for me. I have now 4 plants by diving one plant (last fall)I bought 3 years ago.

Congrats on figuring out the picture Rouge. It is a pretty Salvia and the flowers do look like May Night, although the foliage doesn't. Not sure what it is though.

All I know is that it is an annual. What about "Mystic Spires Blue"?

It is a hybrid cross of longispicata x farinacea, bred by BallFloraplant. Propagated vegetatively. Hardy to zone 7

I have may night salvia blooming now.

It is a vigorous re-seeder and can take over the garden, then look really bad after it blooms and flops over. Deadheading it returns it to fresh growth, but again, it will bloom and then look ugly.

I find that it is better in part shade where it is not as vigorous.

May night salvia is extremely easy to grow. You can cut it back to the base or it can die back, and it will re-grow, any number of times. It's drought-tolerant but if for any reason you let it get really dry and die, it will simply die back to the ground level and re-grow. Also, tiny pieces of severed roots will re-grow. As far as I can tell, it basically takes on the growth habits of difficult weeds like bindweed or thistle.

That makes it really easy to propagate, especially since root cuttings can be completely buried and therefore you can take and re-plant them directly into the garden, any time of year. But be aware that it's very hard to get rid of when it gets established somewhere.