Favorite Plants: Russian Sage

_Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) is one of my favorite landscaping plants. It is very drought hardy and blooms all summer. According to my New Mexico Gardener's Guide (by Judith Phillips), it can be watered deeply every two weeks during the dry season when temperatures are over 85 degrees and watered monthly in cooler temperatures. They also don't need to be fertilized--I don't do anything with mine accept water them when its dry. I did dig a little bit of composted cow manure into the soil when I planted them, but nothing since then. According to Phillips, they can spread aggressively, but mine are in a space that I will happily let them spread to fill in a slope that is too steep to mow.

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_I planted these three years ago as tiny little one gallon sprouts and in their second winter, we had a terrible cold spell with temperatures at minus 25 degrees. They came through in fine shape and I didn't do anything to protect them from the cold. We are at 7000 feet altitude, with some intense sun, snowy winters, monsoons in summer and sometimes hurricane force winds. They seem to thrive in all of that. When they were young and tender that first summer, something was eating them and I had to surround them with a chicken wire cage, but when they matured enough to become woody, that stopped.

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_Russian sage grows about 4-5 feet high and blooms continuously all summer. The foliage is grey green and the blooms are vibrant purple. The bees love the blooms, so don't plant it close to where you like to sit or in high traffic areas where bees and humans would be more likely to come in contact. Mine is planted along the driveway to camouflage a not so attractive view of our foundation and a steep grassy slope. I could have planted them further apart, 5-7 feet, and they would still have filled in the space. Live and learn. I definitely recommend this plant for southwest gardeners.

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