What was that wonderful plant

Question

An unexpectedly hard freeze last winter killed a plant that was among the new plantings a landscaper planted for my new house. I had never seen it before, but I figured it was something fairly common because who would put something exotic on a landscape you were going to sell immediately? Well, I’ve been all over the place and I haven’t found it.

I didn’t get a good picture of it. It had a drooping habit, with dark green narrow rough-textured leaves and absolutely covered with very small bright red and purple flowers, that were kinda sorta salvia-ish, except each flower was on it’s own stem and the lower petals were much larger than the upper. It was blooming when I moved in a year ago in January and was still blooming late into the fall. And I was stupid not to get it identified while it was alive. Any ideas? I’m including the only picture I have, but it won’t help much, I’m afraid. The plants in question are in the center of the picture, behind the tree. The flowers look more purple than they should because of the mix of red and dark purple are sort of blurred together.

Answer 1

I’m afraid the image is too far in the distance to really make an id on your plant.

I would check with the landscape company to see if they have a plant list for your project.