{"id":7793,"date":"2015-07-21T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=7793"},"modified":"2019-03-26T12:47:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T16:47:21","slug":"new-compact-russian-sages-arrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/07\/21\/new-compact-russian-sages-arrive\/","title":{"rendered":"New Compact Russian Sages Arriving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Russian<\/a>

Russian Sage ‘Little Spire’ at Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia, PA<\/p><\/div>\n

Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia<\/i>) is a long-lived easy care summer flowering perennial or sub-shrub. It grows in dry to medium moist, well-drained soil and, first and foremost, in full sun. It holds up to summer\u2019s heat, drought,\u00a0and humidity (USDA hardiness zones 5-9).\u00a0The Perennial Plant Association designated Russian Sage as the Perennial Plant of the Year in 1995.<\/p>\n

Russian sage (species) typically grows 4 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide\u00a0when not pruned. Terminal panicles of light blue tubular flowers are perched on upright square stems. It blooms consistently from early July to October in the Southern Appalachian region (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7).<\/p>\n

The principal appeal of Russian sages are their \u00a0cool blue to lavender colored flowers in mid-summer and\u00a0loose open\u00a0growth habit.\u00a0A member of the mint family, they emit a sage-like odor when\u00a0leaves are crushed. Russian sages add structure and grayish color to\u00a0a winter landscape. This tough perennial has no disease or pest problems. Deer and rabbits leave them alone and its grayish-green foliage copes with urban air pollutants.<\/p>\n

For neatness, prune back plants to\u00a03-6 inches from the ground in early spring as\u00a0new growth begins. Full size Russian sages, compact cultivars less so,\u00a0tend to flop or\u00a0take on a droopy\u00a0appearance in late summer. Deadheading old flower stalks and some late summer tidy-up pruning spur new growth and re-blooming. Fertilize with 10-10-10 or equivalent once\u00a0in early spring; or feed in spring and again in early summer with\u00a0water-soluble fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro\u2122, Jacks\u2122, or Daniels\u2122.<\/p>\n

These five compact cultivars make a better fit in a small urban garden:<\/p>\n

\u2018Filigran\u2019 – 3 – 4 feet tall and wide, light blue flowers and lacey silvery foliage on upright branches.
\n\u2018Lacey Blue\u2019 – 1 – 1 \u00bd feet high by 2-3 feet wide, compact British introduction\u00a0with\u00a0dense large lavender-blue flower panicles that are\u00a0thick stemmed\u00a0for less\u00a0\u201cflopping\u201d.
\n\u2018Little Spire\u2019- 2 – 3 feet high and wide; masses of small, violet-blue flowers and dense silvery-green foliage.
\n\u2018Longin\u2019 – 3 – 4 feet high and wide; deep blue flowers on stiff, upright stems.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rocketman\u2019 \u2013 new 2 \u00bd – 4 feet tall with strong stems and upright branching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) is a long-lived easy care summer flowering perennial or sub-shrub. It grows in dry to medium moist, well-drained soil and, first and foremost, in full sun. It holds up to summer\u2019s heat, drought,\u00a0and humidity (USDA hardiness zones 5-9).\u00a0The Perennial Plant Association designated Russian Sage as the Perennial Plant of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,749,299,710,144,521,778,674,665,628,625,843,1060,601,1045,630,706,646,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7793"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11396,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7793\/revisions\/11396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}