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Salvia yangii (previously Perovskia atriplicifolia) | Russian Sage

First bloom dates were not kept well because I failed the further along the blooming season.

2017, June 7

2023 -- I failed again!

Pronounced SAL-vee-uh (derived from Latin word "sage," or "salveo," meaning ‘be well." It is also considered to be from the Latin word "Salva" meaning to save or heal.).

Prounnced YANG-ee-ii

The family is Lamiaceae, the mint family. (Pronounced lay-mee-AY-see-eye).

Russian Sage was reclassified in 2004 from Perovskia (per-OV-ski-uh) atriplicifolias (at-ry-pliss-ih-FOH-lee-us) to Salvia yangii through DNA testing placing it official as a sage genus.

The common name, Russian sage, is misleading because the plant is not a native of Russia. Perovskia was given by the Russian botanist Karelin to honor a Russian general called V.A. Perovski. Atriplicifolia means leaves like saltbush.

I do not find that I kept a tag for this Russian Sage, but my photos indicate it is blooming in my front yard in 2017, the first year of my written journal. I felt it took up too much space and moved it to the back garden beds. I have spent time dividing it to spread it around the garden, but this year, in 2023, I decided this plant is too much work. It must be a variety that gets very tall and often floppy, requiring a lot of garden 'real estate' space. I have to maintain it by cutting it back to keep it shorter before it ever blooms. This year in 2023, even with cutting it back several times before July 4, the plant was 3 1/2 feet tall. It would have been much taller if I had not done the pre-cutting.

Its blooms are wispier and a softer color than when I see other varieties blooming at hospitals and businesses. I took them all out but one this year, 2023. I want to keep one as I do like it, but I do not want to work so hard maintaining them. It is my goal to find a shorter variety for the garden. I do think I love this plant, but not this variety.

This plant is considered a perennial shrub. I cut it back as far as I can after the blooming season or in the Autumn and it comes back the next year.

I do love how the Russian sage smells! Now this is not like the herbal sage you can eat and, in fact, can be very toxic for you to eat. However, I love snipping it and putting it in a sachet that I can crunch up together from time to time to release the aroma again.

The below photos were taken July 29, 2023, while filming the above video.

Bees love Russian Sage!

I tried to show more of the plant, but it gets so whispy and spread out it almost disappears.

I shared in the video how I keep these supplies on hand so that ladies and young ladies who visit my gardens can walk around and cut smellies for a little sache bag. I love sending them home with a memory from my garden. You can keep them by your computer or whereever you relax reading books or doing a hobby and pick it up and squish it every so often and it will set forth the aroma again! I put a little paper flower in it from the scrapbooking section of the hobby store too.

The below were taken in September 2019, so the blooming season is long for Russian Sage!

These photos were taken in July and August 2017. This is the first year I found evidence of Russian Sage in my yard. I sure did have fun playing with it as flatlay photography too!

I love the graphic that I created on my computer and then printed to put on this flatlay. It says, "I'm an introvert. I don't like attention. I hide in corners. Like over here."