Do you need a plant to decorate your yard that's easy to care for and will impress all of your guests? One Instagram user suggests Russian sage — a beautiful purple-flowering plant that repopulates on its own and requires almost no maintenance.
The scoop
Instagram user Kaleb Wyse (@wyseguide) is from Iowa and posts tips on his page about food, farming, and gardening.
In a popular video, Wyse encourages viewers to invest in Russian sage, specifically the "crazy blue" variety that grows well in plant hardiness zones 4 to 9 — which includes a large portion of the United States, excluding the Northeast and northern Midwest. It grows in bunches and shows off beautiful purple flowers along the stems.
To plant your own, you'll want to choose an area with lots of sunlight, well-draining soil, and room for the plant to spread, as Wyse cautions that the seeds do so easily.
Once the plant has established itself and grown for a season, you can prune it down to 6 to 8 inches to encourage regrowth. Other than that, Russian sage is resistant to droughts and most diseases, so it requires very little care.
Wyse suggests planting other allium and calamint as well, all of which complement each other nicely.
"It gives you that impactful color without any work," Wyse explains.
How it's helping
Russian sage is not only a beautiful addition to your yard, but it's also the perfect plant for anyone who doesn't have the time or energy to spend on curating the perfect garden, or is just starting out with gardening.
Russian sage is also a perennial plant, meaning it comes back each year. And it has a long blooming period, so you'll have beautiful flowers to look at for most of your growing season.
Plus, it's a favorite of pollinators, which are vital to our environment and food production. According to the US Department of Agriculture, out of the 1,400 crop-producing plants in the world, 80% require pollination by insects or animals.
What everyone's saying
Comments on the post were impressed with the gorgeous nature of the Russian sage.
One viewer wrote, "Thank you, this is so pretty! I have a big, mostly empty flower bed in the back that would be perfect!"
Another viewer could attest to its beauty, "Love the Russian sage out here in Idaho!" they wrote.
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