Salvia Victoria Blue

Poker-straight stems at 45 to 60cm topped with dense spikes of small velvety flowers in a deep indigo-violet, and the stems themselves carry a silver-white mealy dusting that makes the blue look brighter than it is. People take it for lavender at a glance, and it is a considerably more upright, structural plant.

It is unscented, which is usually listed as a shortcoming and is often the point. For a dining table arrangement you may well want the blue without a lavender perfume sitting over the food.

Dried, it beats lavender comfortably. Lavender fades to grey and sheds; this holds its colour and structure for years, provided you keep it out of direct sunlight, because ultraviolet bleaches every blue dried flower. Cut when the lower flowers on a spike are open and the top is still in bud.

It is half-hardy, so it needs a frost-free start and cannot go out before late May. It wants full sun and sharp drainage, with grit added on clay. Deadhead back to the next strong lateral bud and it keeps producing to October.