Last year the deer or the groundhogs or both ate all the flowers off in this perennial as soon as the plant formed buds. We had only exactly 1/2 of one left alone to try to flower in 2025: https://pbase.com/britestar/image/175816526

This year - with a fence around the front yard mound island bed - our 3 salvia plants are all flowering nicely. They really are pretty flowers that would enhance any flower garden or landscaping. Plus, they are normally deer and groundhog resistant. Our deer and groundhogs, however, don't really respond to the label of what is supposed to be "normal".

***********

Footnote:

Due to a lot of other things happening in life, I temporarily forgot Chile's birthday on the 3rd. So, the flowers above now honor both the dog and the day.