Violet Profusion is a compact salvia with violet-blue flowers held in rosy purple calyxes, a rich two-tone color up close. It blooms from late spring into early summer and will rebloom several times if you shear off the spent stems.
Its dense, rounded habit about 15 inches tall makes it easy to tuck into the front of a border or to plant in a row as an edger. Bees and butterflies visit steadily, and the aromatic leaves deter deer and rabbits.
What it looks like
Many slender, upright flower spikes 3 to 5 inches long lined with small two-lipped florets in violet-blue, set in rosy purple calyxes. The spikes are densely packed and evenly cover the top of the plant. Leaves are lance-shaped, 1.5 to 2.5 inches long, green, aromatic and crinkled. The plant is a dense, rounded dome 14 to 16 inches tall and 16 to 20 inches wide. At peak it looks like a tidy cushion of violet spires.
Growing it with lavender
Salvia wants the same full sun and lean, well-drained soil as lavender, and its upright spikes echo lavender's form while filling the gap before and after the main lavender bloom.
Care
Plant in full sun in average, well-drained soil; it is drought tolerant once established. Hardy in zones 3-8; each time the spikes fade, shear the plant back by about a third and it will bloom again, often several times through summer.
At a glance
-
Botanical name: Salvia nemorosa
-
Flower color: Violet-blue with rosy purple calyxes
-
Foliage: Green
-
Growth habit: Dense, rounded dome
-
Mature size: 14–16 in tall × 16–20 in wide
-
USDA hardiness zones: 3–8
-
Light: full sun
-
Bloom start: Late-May
-
Peak bloom: Mid-June
-
Bloom pattern: Repeat Blooming
-
Deer resistance: Resistant
-
Pollinator value: Excellent
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.