In the spring, you can buy it all over town. This is the wrong time of year to find it! And it isn't really hardy anyway, so you'll be better off waiting til spring.

Maybe amazindirt will share exactly where she saw it all over town. I only get to Knox. about once a month, but the only place I saw it was at Flower market and that was over a month ago. Spring is a better time to check....and a better time to plant successfully.

When I got my sages, I could not find them locally and had to go to NC, though I did find a few locally this year.

Most of the Mexican Bush sages are zone 8 or higher. One that I have for the first year has a light blue flowers, but it has been extremely slow growing in my rather heavy, often wet soil. I have seen it growing locally very happily, but since they have a greenhouse, they may be treating it as an annual.

I also have the salvia leucantha, fragrant dark blue blooms on curly stems. I think it is zone 7 but seems to tolerate cold and dampness better. I have it in a pot this year, but really like it. It hasn't stopped blooming since spring.

You may want to do some researching to clarify which "bush sage" it is that you might want. Plant Delights nursery is a good place to research (plantdelights.com) and another nursery listed below. When you go to buy it locally, you will know exactly what you are looking for and more importantly what may grow for your conditions.

Be careful though---you can fall in love with salvias.

Here is a link that might be useful: salvias

This was the leucantha. It had velvetly purple and white flowers and was gorgeous! it had been in the ground at the shop for 3 years at least. I could see where it had been trimmed to the ground proviously.

I have seen leucantha at Lowes, Mayo's, Flower Market, Willow Ridge, local plant sales, and so on -- like I said, all over town. But not this time of year.

About the cheapest place to get it is at Mayo's. They seem to sell it every year in their herb section, for just a coupla bucks for each baby plant.

Don't count on getting your leucantha to over-winter here. A few people have luck with it when they have perfect sites for it, but most people here will treat it as an annual. I love it though, and I buy it every spring. :-)

I have the Mexican bush sage described above and I mulch it well with pine straw and have now had it 4 years. Maybe 10" of mulch helps (and good drainage). It is certainly worth trying to overwinter it if you find one next spring.

Thanks! I will look next spring and definitely get one in the ground.

i have 2 salvia leucanthas-the first one i put in last fall and thought it wasn't going to show this spring but it came up quite late and with a vengeance! by then tho i'd replaced it (planted the new one next to it (thankfully) and before long both were huge-they are nearly 6 feet tall and about 6 feet across counting both of them. interestingly, the year old one has purple blooms with purple flowerlets and the new one has purple blooms with white flowers and they are spectacular together. both plants were labeled the same. somewhere i read that they are semi-evergreen but my first one wasn't. great plant tho-oh, btw, no mulch was ever applied to it and won't be this year either. i got mine (both of them) at unique greenhouse in gordonsville. hummingbirds love it too.

here is a photo of my 2 cultivars of salvia leucantha.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I believe the all-purple one is the cultivar called 'Santa Barbara'. I love em all!

It turns out there are several all-purple cultivars. 'Santa Barbara' IS all purple, but it is also dwarf. Other all-purple cultivars include ÂAll PurpleÂ, ÂMidnight and ÂPurple VelvetÂ.

In any case, they're all nice!

'All Purple' and 'Midnight' are rumored to be the same variety, or so Allan Armitage told me a couple years ago. 'Santa Barbara' is patented, unfortunately. I've heard of Knox folks overwintering S. leucanthas in the ground successfully. One person I know who has done so has it growing on a berm, which underscored the fact that excellent drainage is a must, along with lots of fluffy mulch.

Marty

If you enjoy these gorbeous blossoms in the fall, they are also excellent flowers for drying. They retain that beautiful purple color. I cut them, wrap a rubber band around the stems and then hang them up to dry.

anyone know where can I find the seeds?

I have one of these in a pot that I bring inside the garage every winter. IIRC, it came from the Botanical Gardens' Plant Sale in Huntsville, AL one year. I may try planting one outside this spring and seeing how that will do. I love the idea of one that is 6' tall and covered in blooms. Mine is purple with white and just gorgeous when it is flowering.