Progress Report on Salvia 'Victoria Blue'

At the beginning of this season I had a major blank spot in my front right border:

I looked for something that would spread to fill the area, could tolerate the partial shade below the canopy of azalea branches, and would be tall enough to fill the vertical space without getting too high for the canopy "ceiling."

I purchased 7 tiny salvia 'Victoria Blue' pants from a great nursery in Lancaster County (PA) called Ken's Gardens. The plant tag specs/requirements include: sun to part shade, height 15", deep violet-blue flower spikes held above bluish-green leaves, blooms until frost. More detailed information is available on the Victoria Blue Salvia page at About.com.

Here's how they looked when I first put them in on May 4:

And here's how they're looking this week:

They're filling in nicely. And the bud on the largest plant, whose first appearance I reported here, is growing:

We'll have to wait and see if the plants end up being too tall for this spot, in which case I'll move them to another location and try something different here. But I'm very happy with the progress so far!