Trial: Annual

Years Trialed: 1999

Good Qualities

Good blue color (5); Easy to grow (3); Excellent vase life (2); Quick growing. Good filler; Many stems; Retail florists liked this crop which surprised me; Great accent to bouquets; Good color contrast between green and purple; plant habit, overall appearance; Very attractive and appealing to farmers market customers as a fresh cut; Early, strong stems, adds interesting color to bouquets.

Problems

Too short (2); None; When the weather got hot, this saliva sort of dried up on the plant; Color starting to fade, first cut had very little color showing, the side shoots aggressively filled in but are too short. Have melted down from heat; Slow to germinate; The moment hot weather really set in (mid-July), 90% of the plants turned brown and quit, some revived and re-bloomed in October, I suspect it likes colder weather; Growth habit, stems not straight;

Comments

Similar to ordinary Salvia horminum; Similar to Clary sage; Likes the cool spring even in 30°F. Grows quick, nice filler for bouquets with the best selling color. Two month crop from planting plants to cutting. We will grow again next year; Good hold, took heat very well; Plant seemed stressed when hot, dry weather came and production was greatly slowed; Not great cut flower; Nice purple. Interesting plants for a different cut flower look. Stems a bit short. Makes a good filler; Grow it if you have an early October flower market (get it in the ground early); Grew vigorously and bloomed profusely. Would be pretty as a bedding plant, but not great as a dried flower. It might do as a cut flower for small bouquets. Stalks were too delicate when dried. I have sometimes used this variety for pressed flowers, but it's hard to make a living that way. Just a note that there were several white and pink plants mixed in with the blue seed.

Trial Data

¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.

Supplier

Kieft Seeds P.O. Box 618 Conway, WA 98238