Blue Sage
Location
Butterfly Garden
- Common Name: Blue Sage
- Scientific Name: Eranthemum pulchellum
- Family Name: Acanthaceae
- Origin: South Asia
- Height: 4 to 6 ft
- Width: 1 to 3 ft
- Growth: Fast
- Zone: USDA Zones 10B through 11
- Light needs: Full sun to part shade.
- Salt tolerance: Low
- Soil/pH/Texture: Prefers rich, well-drained soil with an acidic pH below 7.0.
- Moisture: Soil should remain moist. Tolerant of high humidity.
- Drought tolerance: Moderate
- Pests/Diseases: Scale, mealybugs, and nematodes are a minor threat.
- Growing conditions: Grow Blue Sage in a sunny, warm area. Soil moisture levels should remain consistent. It does best with some afternoon shade. It should be cut back after flowering to keep it compact and encourage more blooming.
- Characteristics: This spreading shrub has moderately dense foliage and clumping stems. Numerous stems produce oppositely arranged, simple, elliptic leaves with entire margins. These leaves are large, 2 to 4 inches long, and have pubescence. The five-petaled, bright blue flowers appear from green-and-white veined bracts in small clusters at the ends of stems. The fruit is a small, dry capsule.
- Propagation: By cuttings.
- Wildlife: The flowers are attractive to pollinator insects.
- Facts: The specific epithet comes from Latin and means “beautiful”.
- Designer considerations: Good for mass plantings and borders. In colder climates, it can be grown in a container and brought indoors during the winter or kept in a greenhouse.
