I have one plant bought as salvia flocculosa and another bought at Fullerton as 'Rio Bamba'. Robin said it looked like flocculosa and I'm sure he was right. Both of mine are identical. In fact, I have 'Ecuador Blue' also, which looks the same to me. They are all planted in full sun and growth is lax. I suspect I will have to do more cutting back to make the growth more compact if that's what I want. The 'flocculosa' is in a large pot and I like the lax growth in that situation. The 'Rio Bamba' is in the ground and in that spot I would like more compact growth, so it will be cut back.

Thank you; it sounds like growth tends to be lax, which I happen to like in this particular plant. It has a very graceful appearance. Bees love it.

I feel the same about quite a few different plants. I like them to be wispy and graceful rather than stocky and compact...salvia Waverly, a double flowered blue Rose of Sharon, etc....

This year I received seeds of Salvia 'Curtis Blue', lovely plant, sure it is Salvia flocculosa. Seems to like the English climate.

By the way, JENN, Robin is a boy's name in the UK!!!

Robin: My sincere apologies. I know Robin can be male (UK) or female (US) but thought I'd seen "her" and "she" in reference to you, but apparently not (unless that other person made the same erroneous assumption).

Jenn: Absolutely no problem! Though never forgave my parents for giving me that name!

I hope to try Salvia flocculosa here in the Southeastern US as bee forage.

It could be formidable if it blooms from late spring thru autumn, when nectar flows stop with tulip poplar and resume in the autumn with New England aster.

The lack of a nectar source during hot summer months contributes to colony collapse.