a blue by any other name

I can never figure out whether this sage is Salvia azurea or if it is Salvia pitcheri. The pictures that I have seen look the same, but that could be said about several other pale blue salvias as well, since the flowers look similar up close, but plant form can be very different. Tropicos lists both S. azurea, and S. pitcheri, separately, and to make it more confusing, there is also a S. azurea var. pitcheri. Distribution information is only available for S. azurea. Betsy Clebsh, in her book The New Book of Salvias, lists S. azurea, but makes no mention of S. pitcheri in either the listings, or under the S. azurea entry. Plant catalogs are notorious for misidentifying plants, but the High Country Gardens catalog lists both S. azurea and S. pitcheri. The Plant Delights catalog lists Salvia azurea and S. pitcheri as synonymous names. I may have to ask Dave at the ABQ Botanic Garden. He knows everything.

Whatever the case may be, this salvia blooms from late July or August on for a few weeks. It is one of the most impressively blue flowers that I have seen here in New Mexico, and you know how much I like blue flowers. It is a color that echos the color of the big New Mexico sky, and blooms at a most fortuitous time. My plants survive on very little or even no water at all, though I'm tempted to irrigate them just so that I can get more of those deliciously colored flowers. The plants are often described as tall and rangy, even weedy looking, and although I'm usually one to disagree with these kinds of statements, in this case I have to agree. All is forgiven once the plants start blooming, and then instead of gangly, the plants look willowy and graceful. The duck becomes a swan.