Cait's Garden

It is unusual to find a plant in the store once and then never again. By the time they make it to the store, they are usually field-tested and approved and they tend to stick around. Yet oddities do occur. Such as “Purple Rain” Salvia. I bought it about 6 years ago after seeing it on a nursery shelf and have never seen it again. If you Google it, you’ll find mention of it, but no one selling it. Why not? I have no idea! This has been an awesome plant. Reliable, gorgeous, resistant to disease and bugs, cool curly leaves, and long-lasting flowers. Did Prince have an issue with the name? (If there were a plant detectives TV show, I’d put them on the case.) I’d try to make more through division but it’s not really a plant that seems conducive to dividing, and to be honest, I hesitate to take a sharp spade to it when it might be one of the only Purple Rain Salvias in the world. And so it remains, an enigma in my yard. Just goes to show you that you should never pass up that unusual variety that catches your eye because you might just blink and miss it.