Anyone have mature plants of Big Blue Salvia?

last month

last modified: last month

Do you grow Big Blue Salvia? It's a hybrid that requires no deadheading, whatever that means ;) I don't think I deadhead any of my Salvia??? I bought seed last year and I must've done so late in the season, as my plants didn't grow very large or bloom. Last year is pretty much a blur (a lot going on at home). Well, it was either late in the season or they're really slow growing.

If you have experienced the mature plants, what is their height? I've seen 24-46" maximum. One site said two feet, another three feet, another four feet... and was it long blooming?

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Comments (8)

sah67 (zone 5b - NY)
last month
last modified: last month
You'd do well to check out this thread from last year:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6387984/comparision-of-big-blue-and-mystic-spires-salvia

I grew 'Big Blue' from seed last year and it was extremely slow to flower (basically not until mid August for me after planting them in mid May), and even when flowering, it was very "sparse" in its production of new blooms. I think there were others who posted on that thread who had similar experiences.

If you like the look of 'Big Blue', there are lots of S. farinacea x. S. longispicata hybrids that are much more widely available, are very adaptable to different growing conditions, bloom profusely, and need little in the way of deadheading: "Mystic Spires, "Unplugged So Blue", and 'Rockin Playing the Blues', are a few of of the common ones.

I easily prefer all of those to 'Big Blue' based on my experience last summer.
rob333 (zone 7b)
Original Author
last month
Already own it, so let's see what it does this year. Sounds like I am not crazy, that it is a slow grower. Drat. What I was after was the dark color it has. I have Salvia farinacea nearby, but decided to try to go darker.
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Thanks to both of you for your replies. It looks a lot like Indigo spires but I don't think it is because the foliage is different than the plant I have which I 'think' is Indigo Spires, but it caused me to remember that plant and that it might do what I'm looking for and that is a blue salvia that is tall enough to peek over from inside the Youpon holly hedge I have in the front. Shirley, I had a strong feeling I wasn't spelling Chiquita correctly ... lol. I think you nailed it. Does anybody on here grow it? Does it bloom early in the season? Or does it bloom late, like many other beautiful salvias that bloom only in fall?
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sah67 (zone 5b - NY)
last month
last modified: last month
I grew a lot of 'Unplugged So Blue' last year, and I definitely saw what you mean about 'Big Blue" having a darker flower color, but I also recall that Mystic Spires has a similar darker tone compared to the other hybrids (although I haven't grown it in some time). Have you tried that one?
rob333 (zone 7b)
Original Author
last month
I haven't tried it yet, but your above-referenced thread was very interesting, especially about Mystic Spires.
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
last month
I grew a lot of 'Unplugged So Blue' last year,

And @sah67 (zone 5b - NY), after growing one of these last year in a pot and then seeing a long row of them at a relative's home (pictures available in that 2023 thread that you referenced above), I am excited in my plan to plant multiples of this salvia this spring.
HU-128535003
yesterday
RE big blue I have 3 blue blue plants from seed growing under led grow light, Started them Feb 15 lights are on 14 hours a day , day time temps of 18-20C/64-68f/ . growth of the plants seems slow but this the first time growing big blue so I don't have base line to go from. The size the plants 4 to five inches tall I pinched the plants at 8 weeks will be planting them in containers outdoors round the the middle or end of may. if anyone is interested I can update how the the plants do once outdoors if they flower or when they do.
rob333 (zone 7b)
Original Author
yesterday
last modified: yesterday
I can update you ;) When I wrote this, the BB had foliage, and the typical farinacea had some leaves. The S. farinacea is blooming. BB is still clinging to the ground. Since I wrote this, I made both basal cuttings and rooted cutting from the tips of S. farinacea. They're all bigger than 'Big Blue'. I'll leave the one plant I have from BB, but I can't see that I'll like it better than the long blooming, basic S. farinacea.

Not only are these plants the same age, put in the ground last year, just now coming back.. that's the same size that BB was whenever I posted this originally. It will have to do something spectacularly extraordinarily magnificently triumphant for me to think very good things about this plant. I don't think I could be more underwhelmed.
HU-128535003
7 hours ago
Thanks for the update on big blue and S. farinacea Huge difference between the two,S. farinacea already in flower big blue doing not much of anything. I hope that I can get big blue to get some flower buds on before I put it out as it’s like May I’ll have a hard time getting to grow and flower where I live. Would love to grow S. Farinacea in the future.

I did have two Mystic spires in containers but we had a cold snap in jan that did them in. I managed to get one cutting off one of them so hopefully I can get the Mystic spires a decent size for outside. As a back up I’ll will get few of Mystic spires when they become available in my area. The Mystic spires did will in containers here, the hummingbirds were on it most July and august which the reason why we started getting saliva plants last year.