Best blue or purple bushy salvias?

Fire

My fav bushy salvia to date is Royal Bumble (red) - for its hardiness, toughness, bushiness, floritude, bee love, very long season, aromatics, drought tolerance and easiness of propogation. I'm looking for a salvia similar in blue or purple for the community pavement plot. I have Nachtvlinder and Blue Note at home, but I haven't grown them for long enough to know how they match up to Bumble. There is a Lemon Pie on the plot which seems to be doing pretty well. The plants on the plot have to be tough - holding their ground against dogs, cats, foxes and occasional bikes, drunks and excited kids. Once plants are established, they get no extra watering.

Because the plot isn't very big (about 1.5x3m) every plant has to work hard, esp if it's going to be bushy. It also has to be a really big draw to insects. To those of you who grow bushy savilas like microphylla and greggii, which ones do you see have clearly the best insect draw? My Hot Lips and Bumble rumble with insect (bee) life from April to October and are some of the most insect-attractive plants I currently grow. Are there any comparable blues/purples, as covered in flower?

I appreciate your thoughts.

B3

I have one that is a rich dark blue. It's a  shrubby , and dense  , masses of flowers and seems to be pretty hardy. I'll have a look for the label tomorrow

Lyn

Not a salvia, but I love my Veronica Blue Spires, Hardy and a real bee magnet.  Easily grown from seeds, they’ve been in the garden for years. 

Fire

Yes, I have veronica longifolia 'Marietta' and it's a top bee plant. I was wondering if I should try it on the plot. Mine seems to drink for England - with ambitions to be a pond plant. I didn't know if it would be happy a dry spot....

floralies

Nachtvlinder and Blue Note are both very good in dry conditions @Fire I have grown them both for about five years down here, very drought tolerant. I have a Christine Yeo but that has always struggled here.

Nollie

Blue Note is on my wish list, but I really like So Cool Pale Blue, new last year. That is shrubby, tough and drought tolerant. It’s very floriferous - much more so than Nachtvlinder and, so far, without the menace tendencies of the latter to layer and spread everywhere. 

Fire

Thanks @Nollie - do you notice if SCPB is much interesting to bees, hoverflies etc?

I was hoping for an interesting dark purple/dark raspberry mix with Nachtvlinder, but I find the colour not so interesting as the websites portray. I currently have it in a raised bed, so it won't travel very far.

I have taken cuttings from all my bushy salvias this winter and they have all taken well.

Nollie

Yes it seems to be equal to the red salvia in the Pollinator Attraction Stakes, Fire. The flowers are bigger and much more visible than Nachtvlinder. I agree Nact is rather sombre and subtle. SCPB is a good match to it’s name, not pinkish lilac like many so-called blues.

For me, Agastache is still tops in the PAS - tough and drought tolerant too - I have a shorter one called beelicious purple that doesn’t require staking or much water. Not shrubby but worth filing away as a good plant for a low-maintenance garden.

B3

Here it is @Fire

Fire

Thanks B and Nollie

AnniD

I agree about So Cool Pale Blue  l love the colour and the bees do seem to like it.
Dilly Dilly is another one they like, also Blue Merced.
There are also Violet and Purple in the So Cool range, l have ordered them for this year so can't comment on the "bee friendliness" yet.