Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' (Lyreleaf Sage) Unity Grown

Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' is a cultivar of lyreleaf sage, a native, upright perennial with a single flower spike surrounded by a rosette of leaves at its base. Typically found in forest margin and open meadow environments across much of the eastern United States, from Texas to Florida and north up to New York. Lyreleaf sage usually grows to 1-2' tall, though occasionally shorter, and blooms in spring, producing flowers that range from white to pink, purple, or pale blue. The 'Purple Knockout' cultivar differs from the parent species with its shiny burgundy basal leaves that turn dark purple in summer, then to red in the fall. Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' serves as an attractive, fragrant, and hardy groundcover addition to a variety of gardens.

Hardy and difficult to kill, Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' grows best in sandy or poor soils with medium-dry soil, and tolerates a variety of light levels, as well as deer, drought, seasonal flooding, and perpetually wet soils, making it an easy choice for a variety of garden environments. Spring flowers are attractive to a number of pollinators, and in the summer and fall, persistent flower spikes turn to seed, which feeds a variety of songbirds, including goldfinches. Care should be taken with choosing a planting location for your lyreleaf sage, however, as these small seeds can easily take and spread in loose, sandy soils, and though they work great as a weed-preventing groundcover, they can also overtake crowd out other small plants.