Agree with GG - try s.Nachtvlinder- a low growing sprawler as well as the 'Mirage' group. Also, salvia semiatrata. I grew a lovely orange one with softly succulent leaves - name escapes me but will try to look it up in my Clebsch.

Why is it the Proven Winners Salvia are so prolific and dense? Is this more about being a perennial variety or is it just engineering they have done in their breeding program?

" Is this more about being a perennial variety "

Yes. These are dieback herbaceous perennials (Salvia nemorosa) rather than an evergreen subshrub.

btw, Proven Winners is not the breeder. They are merely a marketing arm.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) It looks like "Walters Gardens" is the breeder and Proven Winners has some kind of exclusive license for their perennials. So as an end user you can still think of Proven Winners as being an exclusive supplier for some of those products.

"Proven Winners plants originate from a global network of plant breeders and are rigorously tested in various locations before being offered for sale. They are sourced from breeders in places like Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, and the U.S. The selected plants are then trialed and evaluated in locations such as Michigan, New Hampshire, California, Florida, Germany, and Japan."

The are also known to rebrand some very common and long existing garden plants with their own name......like it is something new and different.

I am not overly impressed.

Clearly they source from many breeders. But the patents on many of the Salvias trace to Walters Gardens specifically, and the web reports that Walters has some kind of exclusive licensing to Proven Winners.