May I suggest Blue Imperial Giant larkspur. I've purchased this from seed, and it is the perfect plant for winter sowing. Also phlomis cashmeriana is unusual looking and has lavender colored blooms. I'm going to link to a photo below, but it appears more pink in the photo. It's halfway down the page. I also love Rocky Mtn penstemon, Wasatch Penstemon, and Pikes Peak Purple. Oh and Rondo mix, though it comes in pink purple and blue. I guess you'd have to pick it out while it's in bloom at the nursery to get just the blue/purple shades. All three in this photo are Rondo mix. I see I need to add some veronica and the salvia leucantha by those photos above. I think that adenophora is so pretty too, but I wonder if it could take this climate. Also I sent you an email offline David3511. I'm dying to know where to find the white epilobium in your photo. Barb Here is a link that might be useful: Cashmere sage

I adore blue salvias. I have tried several over the years here in east central MS. I am on the border of zone 7 and 8, so my climate is hotter than yours, but still, you should be able to use some of this information. Salvia guaranitica, Black and Blue, is excellent. It is dead hardy for ME, and spreads enough to supply new plants every year. It gets about 2.5 feet high, begins blooming in mid summer, and goes till killing frost. The blooms are really, truly, deep blue. Salvia Indigo Spires is taller than Black and Blue, but the bloom spikes are larger and showier. Its blooms are a deep navy blue. The plant gets about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide. It's somewhat rangy, and not absolutely hardy for me, but I grew it for years due to its showiness. Three years ago, I discovered one of its "children": Mystic Spires. This is a wonderful Salvia, perhaps my favorite. It gets about 2 feet high, has a very neat, upright form, with deep blue blooms that never stop. I Just set out some cuttings I kept over winter in my garden. They are already blooming and will go until killing frost. As far as winter hardiness goes, I will typically only have about 1/3 of my plants make it through our winter. I don't know if they dislike our winter wet (very possible) or if the cold gets them. Either way, I don't risk losing them all, as they are very difficult to find in my area. I take cuttings in late summer, stick them in potting soil on my deck and water them daily for about 10 days. That's all it takes to get them rooted. I grow them under lights in my basement through winter. Rarely lose more than one plant during this time. Salvia farinacea, "Victoria" or "Rhea". Farinacea is the other parent of Mystic Spires. Mystic gets its larger size from Indigo spires, but it's long bloom season and neat habit from farinacea. These farinaceas get about 12 to 18 inches high and about 12 inches wide. They are neat, bushy plants that make blue spikes from spring to killing frost. They used to be very easy to buy in the spring as annual bedding plants, but they have gotten scarce the last two years. So, I have begun starting them from seed. I got "evolution" from Parks this year and had a very high rate of germination. They should be ready to go out into the ground in another week or two. (They are also easy to start from cuttings.) Last year, for the very first time in 15 years or more of growing this plant, my plants were just eaten up with mildew by fall. Every cutting I took in the fall failed. But, since the seeds are so easy to start, I will probably go the seed route from now on. My growing season is so long that I cut my farinaceas back (Mystics too) by about a third and fertilize them well in mid July. They recover quickly and will bloom continually without flopping until frost in November. Salvia leucantha is a lovely late summer bloomer. It has grey green foliage and lavender/purple fuzzy blooms. It gets about 3 to 4 feet high and wide. It looks very fresh in the fall and complements all the yellows and oranges of that season. It is completely winter hardy for me. Salvia chaemydroides is a beautiful (really beautiful) vivid blue, low (12") bloomer, but it doesn't seem to like my very moist, heavy soil. It's actually said to be almost too vigorous in other parts of the country. The blue coloration of its blooms makes it well worth a try anywhere. I am on my second try to make it happy, and will try again in another place before I admit defeat. Salvia lyrata (Purple "tornado? volcano?"): I grew this one from seed and I LOVE it. Not for the blooms, however. The foliage is a vivid red-purple and it holds that intense color all summer long, even in my full sun. It is a great edger. I remove the white flowering stems. I have also grown (and discarded) Aztec Skies (extremely invasive, blooms not showy, plant messy) I had read that salvia nemerosas don't like the south. My experience agrees: Caradonna: although it's supposed to be the best nemerosa bet for the south, it was a complete waste of money for ME. Never grew. Did not survive my winter. Probably hated my extreme heat and humidity, not to mention my winter wet. In your area, I'd sure give it a try, because it's a stunner when it's happy. May Night: certainly better than Caradonna, but not that much. Its season of bloom is too short (about a month, max) when I can grow farinacea so easily. Purple Rain: Lovely plant in the garden center, but the grey/purple color of the blooms didn't show well at all from a distance of more than 3 feet. The plant is floppy. And, it didn't survive my winter. I won't replace it. So, that's my salvia experience. I hope this helps you or someone else. Good luck! Let us know what you try and how it works out. (Especially if it's something I haven't tried! :)

Purple Emperor is a dwarf sport of Black Knight. It has the same larged-sized flower on a bush that's only three to four feet high and wide. The flowers are just as fragrant. This is significant, because the flowers 'show' better held above a tight, compact plant compared to the loose habit of most Buddleias. Additionally, Purple Emperor was developed by Elizabeth Keep, a Buddleia specialist in England, so it's hardier (-20). However, Michael Dirr and several other sources, have noted that Nanho Purple's flowers are extremely fragrant. Since I want to plant a small Butterfly Bush near my window, I'm wondering how the fragrance of Purple Emperor (Black Knight) and Nanho Purple compare... Mark.

Plantmaven - Thanks for the link. It's interesting that they say it isn't fatal, since at my old house, the columbine were so chewed up, they didn't have any leaves left! So, I'm a bit nervous. Melissa - It's so funny to see that arbor in other places - I've seen it in a couple of yards in the area, too. This is the first year I've mulched the whole thing with leaves. Last year, I did just the trench around it, but was running out of leaves. This year, since I didn't add any of my leaves to lasagna gardens, I think I'll have enough to mulch at least the old borders. Not sure if I'll have enough for dd's hot annuals border along the fenceline. (The mostly bare-looking area.) We are still watching for seedlings coming up in there, anyhow. I have a bunch of self-seeded cosmos, and I'm figuring that if we have some major bare spots, I'll fill them with cosmos. Thanks on the compliments - it is great to have it coming together. Eventually I may have the lilac blooming at this time, too. Of course, as it gets bigger, I'll need to move the irises around it.