Floriferous, understated, and sturdy, this shrub is an essential feature of summer gardens.
The 'Blue Spire' variety is one of the few plants that flowers continuously from June to September. It forms a large bushy clump reaching 1.20 m in height and produces fine stems adorned with slender spikes laden with lavender-blue flowers, showcasing remarkable generosity. Its small, dentate, greyish-white foliage is highly aromatic, indicating excellent adaptation to dry, even arid summers. Light and airy, the Afghan sage fits seamlessly into sunny borders, thriving in well-drained, relatively poor soils.
Planted in my garden near Aix-en-Provence, in a border for 7 years, this variety grows effortlessly, without watering, and thrives regardless of conditions. Resistant to wind, cold, and severe drought, and indifferent to the presence of lime, it is for its incredible robustness that I selected this variety. It enlivens the garden with its steel-blue plumes alongside gauras, bushy sages, lavenders, and California fuchsias.
This is a plant that requires no maintenance other than a severe pruning with shears at the end of winter: I simply cut it back to 15 cm above the ground. One last piece of advice, overly fertile soil will lead to more vigorous growth but will harm the density of the plant, causing the bush to open up. Don’t hesitate to plant it in soil mixed with sand and gravel.
Its strengths include:
- Thrives in full sun
- Drought-resistant
- Robust against diseases
- Requires very little maintenance
- A plant of great understated beauty
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