02/08/2026
Fancy something different rated excellent by some of our campers who visited last week Beth Chatto's Plants & Gardens
Plant of the Week - Salvia 'Blue Spire'
As its slender, silvery-white stems emerge above neighbouring plants in a dry, sunny border, this striking perennial creates an immediate vertical accent. The stems are clothed in finely divided grey foliage and, by midsummer, are crowned with elegant spires of lavender-blue flowers. Over time, the plant develops a woody, shrubby base. To keep it healthy and maintain its shape, cut back the previous year's stems to this woody framework each spring. This plant is also known by the synonym Perovskia 'Blue Spire'.
Whether compact or tall, every flowering salvia is a magnet for wildlife. Its distinctive two-lipped flowers are specially adapted for pollination by bees, particularly bumblebees, whose size often matches the flowers of each species. In the Americas, hummingbirds also pollinate species with longer tubular flowers. Several species of micromoths use salvia as a larval food plant, adding to its ecological value. In autumn, the attractive seedheads provide food for finches, including goldfinches, while also offering shelter to beneficial insects such as ladybirds, along with smaller insects and spiders that are, in turn, foraged by wrens.
Shop here: https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/a-z/s-z/salvia/perovskia-blue-spire.htm
