Looks like Salvia farinacea, aka Mealycup Sage, and may be the variety "Blue Bedder".

If you were in zones 9 or 10 you could reliably count on this being perennial. In zone 5 you're out of luck. Bummer. But save seeds and do it again! It's just lovely.

Got it. I am so shocked because I planted them late June. Their height was only 1 inch tall. Looks like they love the area where I planted them.

Thanks for the id. :)

Surprisingly my 'Blue Bedder' has come back through two winters. The first fall I didn't mulch it as expected it to be an annual. Last fall I mulched with shredded leaves and transplanted it this spring to a new bed.

'Blue Bedder' looks like 'Victoria Blue' on steroids to me. I will collect seeds this fall and wintersow them and hope they all will be perennials here.

WOW, I'm excited to see them come back next year. I still have many seeds that I collected last year. I will collect again. :)

Thanks for sharing your story!

Last winter, we had under 14 degrees here in No. Carolina (I am a former New Yorker and was surprised the winter can get so cold here).. Anyway, all of my Salvias came back (what you have).

The trick is to NOT cut them back in the winter. If you don't cut them back (and you may want to because they can get unsightly by the end of our growing season) there's a great chance they will come back.

We had a really cold and wet winter with snow and low temps and mine were fine - mark where you have them and check in the spring for new growth.

Let us know how they did

Carrie

Will follow your advice! :)

Also, I had a clump so tall (five feet tall) and in the wrong spot that I cut it way back to the ground in the beginning of the summer and it is growing back so nice and healthy....

If you find that where they are they have gotten too tall, then if they come back next year and put out new growth, cut them down and by the time they bloom they would be the right height. They are quite hardy.

Carrie

Updating this thread. She is still alive! Our weather here already went down to 21F about 4 times now! I took this shot this evening. :)

{{gwi:426562}}

Hey Neil, if you have extra seed, I would love to try a few.
cAROL

I still have seeds. I'll send them to you. :)

I bought a flat of these one summer, and they survived over the winter that year. That was one of our milder winters, with a low temp of 0 degrees F and no subzero temps, which would make it a zone 7a winter. So I think it is quite a bit hardier than zone 9 or 10. IIRC, it was slow to get going in the Spring however. This is similar to the Verbena bonariensis which will overwinter in a milder winter too. Mulch or a sheltered location would probably help it overwinter.

Hi Neil,
My neighboe gave me your seed pack yesterday,I will get then in the mail to you this week some time. :0)
cAROL
Oh, and, thank you for the seeds,can't wait to get them, I am trying to get a pink, blue, lavender,and purple garden going,along with some yellows.

I'll prepare it this week. Please email me your address again. I'm not sure if I will find the mail you sent to me last year. :)

Thanks!

Email coming your way.:0)
cAROL