Russian Sage - Perovskia atriplicifolia - Salvia Yangii - Long blooming perennial pollinator garden

Russian Sage - Perovskia atriplicifolia - Salvia Yangii is a long blooming perennial plant for the garden, very attractive to pollinators of all kinds. With wonderful silvery foliage, it is a great garden accent almost all year.
Russian sage is native, believe it or not, to... Russia, south into the "Stans", Afghanistan, Pakistan, that part of the world. It is one of the longest blooming perennials that you can put in your garden. It's also very, very friendly to pollinators, butterflies, bees, all sorts of pollinators will gather around it.
One of the beauties of this plant is that it looks good almost all the time. The stems and the leaves are a silvery color with some varieties. They have a white dust, kind of a frocking, if you will, of white on the leaves and stems. So even when it's not in bloom, it has an interest in the garden. That silvery neutral color is really an important kind of resting point for the eye. In May and June, when everything else is very flora for us. It's nice to have that that color there.
It's also very interesting in terms of its growth. It has real strong apical dominance. It has a central stem that shoots up and it looks like a small evergreen tree. As it grows, if it's growing singly, a single stem, you want to have a stake or something to tie it to because it gets a little floppy. Some people get around this by planting six or seven of them in a club and they seem to support each other as they grow. Russian stage will grow anywhere from 2 to 5 feet tall, depending on its exposure. When it's in sunnier location, it will stay low. But if it's looking for light in the shade, it's going to stretch to to a larger size. I would give it about two feet on each side and there are varieties that grow a little bit smaller. Most of the varietals differences in Russian say, are with the flower color and also in the foliage color and aspect.
It begins blooming here in Connecticut in late July and continues blooming all the way through august. September till the first hard Frost The plant is hardy in our zone. It's a perennial plant, but it dies down to the ground for us here every year. In warmer climates you might get the plant
as a kind of almost evergreen through the wintertime. The blooms are a lovely blue, there is a variety with a very light violet color flower, but generally they're in that range, the blues. There may be a white one that I've seen blooming. And again, they're very fragrant and attract pollinators of all sorts. It's a great plan to attract pollinators to your garden. Of course, attracting pollinators is just part of the equation to promote a healthy ecosystem in our gardens. We also want to plant plants that provide food for the larvae of the pollinators. This is not one of those. It's just strictly provides pollen and nectar for pollinators.
Growing Russian Sage is not hard at all. But there are a couple of things that you have to pay attention to. One is it doesn't like wet feet through the wintertime. You want to play it in Well-drained soil, it'll do just fine in sand it really likes well-drained soil. Good to have it in sun. Partial shade is okay, but you get better flowering and a more thriftier plant if it's planted in full.
Another important aspect to Russian sage is that it is a very carefree, pest-free plant. Sometimes I've seen a little bit of rust, which is a fungal organism on some of the leaves, but it was in a wet spot and a little bit shady. So plant it in full sun well-drained soil, and you're good to go. It is a little difficult to grow from seed, but it can be done. It prefers light to germinate. You've got to plant it on the top of a seeding mix with vermiculite on top of it that will let light in. And it takes a while for the plant for the seeds to germinate. Once they germinate, you repot them into larger pots. My suggestion would be to either look for it at one of the small garden centers or if you have a friend who has the plant, maybe take a rooted cutting from them.
Russian sage. It used to be known as Perovskia atriplicifolia, but it has been moved to the salvia genus. It's now called Salvia yangii. And this is a result of understanding the genome of the plant, placing it in a salvia or sage genus.
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[@SMElder-iy6fl]

This is so popular in my native high desert state of New Mexico. When i moved to a garden of heavy clay on the East Coast it took me 3 years of repeated planting to establish Rissuan sage. I love it, so i kept trying and now that we have repeated droughts it seems happy.

[@Gardenclips]

Russian Sage definitely appreciates well drained soil! Thanks for watching!

[@revolversntulips]

Very informative! I've collected seeds here in Sweden and it would be fun if it works. It can take a while before germination from what I understand? Otherwise I'll buy some plants because it's a really great plant for bees etc like you said

[@Gardenclips]

It is worth trying from seed, but of course the instant gratification of buying a plant has its own satisfaction. Thanks for watching!