Product Description
Salvia 'Big Sky' PPAF CPBRAF - Proven Winners® LIVING LARGE Collection (25) Bare Root Plants
Common Name: Perennial Salvia, Meadow Sage
Salvia 'Big Sky' LIVING LARGE™ is a truly exceptional cultivar of perennial salvia, aptly named for its impressive stature and abundant floral display. This super-sized perennial offers a magnificent show of vibrant violet-blue flowers, held aloft on sturdy stems, creating a striking visual impact in the garden. The dense rosettes of large, lush green leaves provide a robust and attractive foundation for the upward-reaching flower spires. While many perennial salvias bloom earlier, 'Big Sky' distinguishes itself by offering a slightly later bloom time, extending the season of color in your garden. This Salvia is a quintessential garden staple, providing a bountiful mass of colorful flower spikes from late spring into early summer, attracting a wealth of beneficial pollinators.
- Height: Reaching a substantial 28 to 32 inches tall, 'Big Sky' lives up to its name, creating a commanding presence in the landscape.
- Spread: With an equally impressive spread of 28 to 32 inches, this Salvia forms a full and robust clump, providing excellent coverage.
- Flowers: The flowers are a captivating shade of violet-blue, borne in dense, upright spikes that emerge from the foliage. Each individual flower is tubular, characteristic of the Salvia genus, and arranged in whorls along the stem.
- Foliage: The foliage is a rich green, forming a dense basal rosette. The leaves are typically ovate to lanceolate, with a slightly rugose (wrinkled) texture and often a pleasant, herbaceous fragrance when bruised.
- Stems: Sturdy, square stems support the flower spikes, ensuring they remain upright even when laden with blooms.
- Flower Color: Shades of rich purple, specifically violet-blue, providing a strong color accent.
- Foliage Color: Lush green, offering a vibrant backdrop for the blooms.
- Bloom Time: Late spring into early summer, extending the season of color in the garden.
- Growth Rate: Medium, establishing itself well within a season or two.
- Fragrance: Both the flowers and foliage possess a pleasant, herbaceous fragrance, adding an olfactory dimension to the garden.
- Attracts Wildlife: Highly attractive to a variety of beneficial insects and birds, including butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees, making it an excellent choice for a pollinator-friendly garden.
- Critter Resistant: Exhibits good resistance to both deer and rabbits, a valuable trait for gardens prone to Browse.
- Seasonal Interest: Provides significant visual interest during its bloom period, and even after flowering, the dried seed heads can offer architectural interest in the late season.
- Drought Tolerance: While it thrives with regular moisture, 'Big Sky' is notably drought tolerant once established, making it suitable for water-wise landscapes.
Salvia 'Big Sky' LIVING LARGE™ (PPAF CPBRAF) is a testament to modern plant breeding, offering a robust and floriferous perennial that delivers big impact. Its extended bloom time compared to some other Salvias, combined with its impressive size and vibrant color, makes it a standout choice. It is a low-maintenance plant that provides significant aesthetic and ecological benefits to the garden.
While 'Big Sky' is a cultivated variety, its lineage stems from perennial salvias that are native to various regions around the world, particularly temperate and subtropical areas. Many garden salvias originate from species found in the Mediterranean region, Central and South America, and parts of Asia. These species typically thrive in sunny, well-drained locations, mirroring the ideal conditions for 'Big Sky'.
Landscaping Design Tips
Salvia 'Big Sky' is an incredibly versatile plant for landscape design, offering both bold color and a strong structural element.
- Mass Planting: This cultivar excels in mass plantings, creating a breathtaking wave of violet-blue color. Plant in drifts or large blocks to achieve a dramatic and cohesive visual effect. Its uniform height and spread make it ideal for creating a solid block of color along a border or in a large perennial bed. Consider planting a minimum of 5-7 plants for a significant impact.
- Border Plant: Its upright, full habit makes it an excellent choice for the middle or back of a perennial border, providing vertical interest and continuous color.
- Patio and Container Plantings: Despite its size, 'Big Sky' performs beautifully in large containers and patio pots, bringing its vibrant blooms closer to viewing areas. Ensure containers are adequately sized to accommodate its root system.
- Cottage and Eclectic Gardens: Its informal yet abundant flowering fits perfectly into the relaxed charm of cottage gardens. In eclectic designs, it can serve as a strong focal point or a unifying element.
- Cut Flower Garden: The long-lasting flower spikes are excellent for fresh cut flower arrangements, adding a touch of vibrant blue to indoor displays. The fragrant foliage can also be used as cut greenery.
- Pollinator Garden: Its strong attraction to butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees makes it indispensable for creating a thriving pollinator garden.
- Salt Tolerant: Its salt tolerance makes it a suitable option for coastal gardens or areas where de-icing salts are used near planting beds.
Salvia 'Big Sky' LIVING LARGE™ is remarkably cold hardy, thriving in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 8. This wide range indicates its adaptability to a broad spectrum of climates, from relatively cold northern regions to warmer, more temperate zones.
Planting and Cultivation
- Sunlight: Requires full sun, meaning at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day, for optimal growth and bloom production. Insufficient sun can lead to leggy growth and fewer flowers.
- Water Requirements: 'Big Sky' has low to average water needs. While drought tolerant once established, regular watering, especially during dry spells and the first year after planting, will encourage more prolific and sustained blooming. Avoid overwatering, which can lead to root rot.
- Soil Quality: Adapts well to average soil quality. Good drainage is crucial to prevent waterlogged conditions.
- Soil Chemistry: Tolerant of a wide range of soil pH, performing well in acidic, neutral, and alkaline soils.
- Planting: Plant in well-drained soil, ensuring the crown of the plant is at soil level. Space plants 28-32 inches apart to allow for their mature spread.
- Fertilization: Generally, salvia is not a heavy feeder. A light application of a balanced, slow-release granular fertilizer in early spring can be beneficial, but avoid excessive nitrogen, which can promote foliage at the expense of flowers.
- Deadheading: Regularly deadheading spent flower spikes will encourage a longer bloom time and can often promote a second flush of blooms.
- Pruning: If plants become leggy after the initial bloom, cut them back severely to the newly developed basal foliage. This strong pruning can stimulate a rebloom in the fall, though these subsequent flowers may be smaller and less abundant than the initial flush. An annual cutback in late winter or early spring before new growth emerges can also help maintain a tidy form.
- Winter Care: In colder zones (3-5), a light layer of mulch around the base of the plant after the ground freezes can help protect the crown from extreme temperature fluctuations. In warmer zones, no special winter protection is typically needed.
Mature field grown roots shipped bare root.
Other Details
The most important part of the plant is its root system. Healthy roots are the foundation of a healthy, vibrant plant. The type of plug container used is based on the specific needs of the plants. Perennials offered as bare root traditionally perform better when planted as bare root.Planted in a specialized mix, potted plants have well established root systems. Top growth stage will vary depending on the current life cycle and time of year when shipped. In Winter and early Spring dormant plants may be shipped. Dormant plants may be planted right away, even before the last frost date.
Most bare root varieties are field grown for at least one season, though Hemerocallis and Hosta are grown for two seasons. The bulk of the soil is removed during the harvesting process and the tops of most varieties are trimmed back to the crown. They are graded, packed in shredded aspen or sphagnum moss and stored in freezers until ready to be shipped.
See our Container Sizes and Bare Root Perennials pages for more information.
Plant information and care is provided in the Overview section, Plant Genus Page and general information is provided in the Planting Care & Guides. Additional questions can be asked on each Plant page.
Plant Spacing: Using the maximum mature spread or width of a plant to guide spacing, ensures space to grow to full size. To fill an area sooner, plant them closer together. Just remember, future thinning or transplanting may be needed.
Water: Keep a close eye on newly planted perennials, especially throughout the first growing year. Most early plant loss is due to too much or too little water!
