Mealycup sage

Mealycup sage is the blue for a planter that needs a vertical line. ‘Victoria Blue’ sends up spike after spike of violet-blue flowers from late spring until frost, on a compact plant that stays about 18 inches tall. Bees and hummingbirds work it all summer. It shrugs off heat, which is the whole point in a Greenville July.

In the Upstate

Clemson lists this sage as hardy in zones 8 to 10, and Greenville sits right at the edge. NC State is blunter: it is reliably perennial only near the coast and behaves as an annual in the Piedmont. In the ground it may come back after a mild winter. In a pot, where the roots see roughly one zone colder than the soil, plan on replacing it every spring. Plant it out from mid-April once frost is past. August does not bother it much, as long as it drains.

In a container

It plays the height role in a small pot and the filler role in a big one, and either way it gives you a vertical line to set against mounding petunias or calibrachoa. Expect 18 to 20 inches tall and about a foot wide. Water when the top inch or two of mix is dry, which in a sunny July pot is every day or two. It does not need swapping mid-season. Trim the spent spikes and it keeps going into October.

Care

Water deeply, then let it dry a little. Feed lightly: too much fertilizer or too much water invites fungus and floppy growth, and Clemson notes it performs best in soil that is not overly fertile or moist. Cut the faded flower spikes to keep new ones coming, and shear it back if it gets leggy in late summer. The one thing that kills it is wet, heavy soil, so give it a pot that drains.