We have Cherry Queen in England, which originated in Christine Yeo's garden in the UK. Great Salvia, supposed to be a hybrid of greggii x blepharophylla. Now there is a new hybrid/cultivar of Cherry Queen x another greggii, which has been named 'Stephanie', more of a magenta flower, lower lip faces upwards. Quite beautiful. Similar shiny foliage.

Maybe Stephanie will get over here someday, it sounds great.

It has been a few year since blepharophylla has graced this garden, and I kind of know what you mean. A replacement I ordered from Richard was the only one I lost this spring - my own fault. Maybe a couple more will be ordered and the species could be mixed out in the bush sage hedge. The possible crosses are an exciting thought. I wonder what other sages might be good to mix in as potential parents? What about dichlamys since it happens to be out on the porch and Richard mentioned it was related to microphylla. It is something to consider.

Cherry Queen has been great down in the south too.
It does not produce seed here.Still a wonderful
plant.

I released Salvia greggii x blepharophylla `Cherry Queen' in the USA way back in the mid to late 80's, along with `Cherry Chief' and `Raspberry Royale'

I'm a complete novice compared to you guys so what is old news is a revelation to me. Am I wrong in thinking that it is somewhat surprising that such a cross should be so hardy? Past experience has told me the blepharophylla is pretty frost tender, something I learned to my regret.

The old-fashioned blepharophylla has been hardy for me for some time. I found the seedling parent of Cherry Queen growing in the planter of its parent. This was at a time when I had few sages in my collection. Its other parent is most likely Furman's Red.

Hybrid Sage - Cherry Queen has produced seed, there are several small seedlings near the base of the plants that are probably too young to survive the winter.