Hi Daisy. I have had a Salvia farinacea in the same pot for over 4 years and it gives a lot of flowers from late spring to autumn. Admittedly a little less energetic this year. Maybe because of our wetter, cooler summer or maybe it is getting old. I don't know which variety it is.
I too grew "Victoria" from seed this year expecting the flower stems to be much more purple than they actually are but I was a little disappointed as they are only marginally more purple than the one I mentioned above. I have just bought some seeds of "Evolution" which, hopefully, should be better. I ordered them from Jungle Seeds UK.
On the subject of being disappointed with salvia flowers I grew Salvia roemeriana"Hot Trumpets" from seed this year and the flowers never really opened but self pollinated while closed. I have some seed but I don't know if I will bother to grow any more. Let's see if the plants I have from this year produce better flowers next year.