Salvia patens is an anchor plant in British Cottage gardens. Hence the names of the most popular varieties: Oxford Blue & Cambridge Blue. No one has ever accused their climate as being dry. We've had generally good reports for this species growing east of the Mississippi, but some folks have issues in hot and humid settings. The tall varieties like Guanajuato are less tolerant of warm, moist nights - the shorter varieties seem to be a bit more tolerant. Guanajuato does best in high light - not full sun but very bright shade. Even in full sun here on the Pacific it does flop late in the season. But the intensity of the gigantic blue flowers is hard to beat, and at least to me worth some extra efforts.
