Perovskias

Perovskia, also known as Russian Sage or Afghan Lavender, are shrubs that are really easy to grow from the lamiaceae family, just like sages and lavenders with which they share a small aromatic silver foliage and a long summer flowering in a lovely lavender blue. Similar to the Perovskia atriplicifolia Blue Spire, they originate from species native to the mountainous and rocky regions of Central Asia and the Himalayas, they are extremely robust and resistant to everything: cold, dryness and diseases. Developing from a often sucker-forming stump, these shrubs quickly form very beautiful clumps reaching around 1.20 m (4ft) in full flowering on almost as much width. They are composed of whitish stems adorned throughout the summer with small mauve-blue flowers in upright spikes. Perfectly adapted to difficult conditions, tolerating pollution and sea spray, Perovskia can acclimatize almost anywhere. They only dislike heavy and wet soils in winter. Stunning in wild-looking beds, in Mediterranean gardens and on south-facing terraces, they go wonderfully well with grasses (Pennisetum, Miscanthus, Calamagrostis), gauras, penstemons, achilleas and form superb combinations with their cousins the sages. They are also loved alongside perpetual roses, accompanying them until late in the season.