Home Page

Plants:
Plant Catalogue
Printable Catalogue  
Online Order Form 
"Plants for..." guides
Special Ranges:
 - Helenium 
 - Hemerocallis
 - Centaurea
 - Geum
 - Phlox

Garden: 
Gardener's Diary 
Gardening Articles 
Gardening Talks  
Links

Salvia: 

A very large and varied genus of plants that includes the culinary herb sage as well as exotic tender plants from the new world. They grow in a wide range of conditions, soils and situations: there is a Salvia for everyone! Care instructions are covered under each variety. 

Great bee plants.

Photo: Salvias Schneehügel (white, lower left) and Ostfriesland (blue, centre) contribute to this June planting in our garden The bright pink Dianthus Devon Wizard and scarlet Lychnis chalcedonica also contribute the fresh-coloured scene  © 2005 SpecialPerennials.com All Rights Reserved.

Hardiness:

Salvias vary in hardiness and winter care is covered for each variety, but please bear in mind that it is not only cold but wetness that can kill a plant over winter. Many Salvias are very cold hardy but this is because they are covered with a blanket of snow in winter that keeps the roots dry. Others withstand cold winters in mountains which again present very different conditions to the garden. In our details we state how hardy the plants have proved to be in our garden.

Position:

Some Salvia prefer warm but slightly shaded spots, but as a general rule in the UK you can't go wrong by putting a Salvia in the sunniest position possible. New World species and cultivars are best if given a warm sheltered spot for winter. These types also tend to break easily in strong winds, so a leeward of a wall, fence or taller plant is beneficial

Flowering Times:

Most Salvia flower in flushes. The tender, New World types can flower throughout the winter in a warm conservatory or heated greenhouse. Winter conditions can also influence how early flowering starts. For example, after a mild winter S.elegans can start flowering in late May, but after a cold winter when it dies back to its underground root stock, flowering might not start until late July.

See pictures of Salvias in bloom in our Garden Diary entry for October 2008. Some of these New World Salvias will be available for sale from summer 2010. They are brittle and therefore difficult  to post but if you don't mind a pruned back plant we will send them. 

Propagation:

Read about taking cuttings of Salvias in our Garden Diary entries for October 2009 and November 2009.

Salvia argentea

Large sliver grey leaves and lilac flushed, white flowers held in whorls around 2ft 6In / 75cm tall stems. Will self seed, but will be short lived (i.e. usually dies!) if allowed to set seed freely. 

Pretty hardy, although the leaves are killed by frost. Its best to cut them away when the weather warms up to avoid rotting of the rootstock. In hard winters about 75% of ours come okay in well-drained soil. 

The plants need sharp drainage and a sunny spot. Watch out for slugs under the large leaves - if you find any, you know what must be done!

The plants are native to southern Europe from Portugal through to Bulgaria.

RHS Award of Garden Merit (H3).

Salvia guaranitica: 

These plants grow from a woody, more or less tuberous rootstock, dying back below the ground in winter and emerging again in spring (late spring or early summer after an exceptional cold winter). A protective winter mulch is advised. I do pot a few up and take into a cold frame or cold greenhouse in winter as an insurance policy against an extreme winter.

They require a sunny spot, free-draining, fairly rich soil. 

As the rootstocks develop the plants produce more and more flower, but it is advisable every 3-4 years to lift them in spring and divide. Fresh plants are easy to strike from early summer cuttings but they will take a year or so to form really good flowering plants.

Flowering time is somewhat dependent on the previous winter but normally starts in July and goes on into the autumn.

The leaves are aromatic giving the plants their common name of Anise Sage and they grow to 2ft 6in  - 3ft 6in depending on maturity and richness of soil. 

They originate from Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. 

The tubular flowers are too long and narrow to allow bees to enter them, but never fear the bees make a hole in the back of the flower to get at the nectar and pollen.

Perfect Partners: The Dorothy Clive Garden makes great use of Salvia guaranitica in its late summer borders. Here is Blue Enigma with Persicaria amplexicaulis atrosanguinea and Dahlia David Howard in September. 

Salvia guaranitica Black and Blue

Handsome large, soft leaves. Large dark blue flowers backed by black calyces make this a stunning addition to the border.

Salvia guaranitica Blue Enigma

Deep blue flowers with green calyces

RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Salvia nemorosa

From central Europe and western Asia where it grows in wooded areas (hence nemorosa). They are very hardy and long-lived. 

The main flowering starts in late spring / early summer. When the first flowers fade cut back to just above where the side buds are forming and continue with this until all the side shoots are spent. Then cut the plants back hard and then more flowers will grow to come out in late summer / autumn.

Although they come from wooded areas they do like some sun and in the cool, less sunny UK climate they may sulk in a shady spot.

Propagation is by division, normally in spring. Named varieties will produce very variable seedlings and for example, seedlings of Caradonna almost always lack the dark stems that make their parent so attractive. 

There is some confusion over whether some varieties are truly from Salvia nemorosa, or are hybrids: x.superba or  x.sylvestris. I am using the names in the RHS Plant Finder 2011-12 edition.

Perfect Partners: Salvia nemorosa Amethyst makes a lovely cottage garden plant but the straight stems can also add a more formal, architectural feel to a planting.

Salvia nemorosa Amethyst

Taller than other nemorosa varieties - 2ft 9in. Pale violet flowers make it rather unique amongst this type of Salvia.

RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Salvia nemorosa Caradonna

Violet blue flowers and set off admirably but the striking black stems. 1ft 6in / 45cm. 

Read more about this plant's attractive to bees in our garden diary for May 2011.

Salvia nemorosa Lubecca 

Purple-blue flowers in massed spikes. 2ft / 60cm tall. 

RHS award of garden merit.

Perfect Partners: Saliva Lubecca with Kniphofia Gladness , Hemerocallis Nefertiti and Lonicera nitida Baggesen's Gold in our garden 30 June 2011. Lilium henryi is starting to tower above the planting and will provide a vibrant splash of orange when the Kniphofia has finished.

Salvia nemorosa Marcus 

Compact plants (only 1ft or less tall in flower) with masses of deep violet flowers.

Salvia nemorosa Pink Friesland

Large pink flowers and pinkish red calyces. About 1ft 6in - 2ft tall, A new variety that has performed very well for us. 

Perfect Partners: Salvia nemorosa Pink Friesland in our garden with Monarda Elsie's Lavender in our garden in August.

Salvia nemorosa Pusztaflamme 

Double violet flowers on 2ft  tall spikes. Puszta is a Hungarian term for a steppe-like landscape, so the name possible literally means "Flame of the Steppe". May require some support.

RHS award of garden merit.

These striking Salvias from Mexico grow from tubers and if you treat them like Dahlias you won't go far wrong. With us they are hardy and we leave them in the ground over winter. However, some gardeners do tell me they lose them in winter. Mind you after a cold winter they can appear dead in spring only to come to life in early summer, so do be patient. The plants have been grown in British gardens since 1838 so they must be reasonably easy!

We have found that a couple of cultivars, notably Dot's Delight, are less hardy and do need to be stored frost-free. 

They like reasonably good soil in sun or part sun. Good winter drainage is essential.

The common name Gentian Sage refers to the vivid blue flowers of the species. The epithet "patens" means spreading and refers to the parts of the flower that allow insects to enter them.

You can, like with Dahlias, dig them up in early winter and store the tubers frost-free, potting up in early spring and planting out when the frosts have finished. 

Propagation is easiest from saved seed and most varieties come true. You can also take cutting in early summer or very carefully divide tubers. 

They have a flowering height of about 1ft 6in - 2ft (perhaps a little more in really good soil) and established plants flower continuously from June to the frosts. 

Read about winter care of Salvia patens and its varieties in our garden diary for October 2010.

Salvia patens

Really vivid blue flowers. One well-known nursery claims this plant only has one or two flowers at a time. I think our picture safely contradicts this opinion!. 

Also sold by some nurseries under the names "Oxford Blue" and "Blue Angels" - all are identical to this plant.

RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Salvia patens Cambridge Blue

The proper sky blue cultivar which isn't always easy to obtain.,

RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Salvia sclarea:

Clary Sage has been grown for time immemorial as a source of volatile soils for healing and perfume. It is a short lived perennial or biennial (see varieties below for details) that is best propagated by seed as division is difficult.

The flowers are attractive and are boosted in impact by the large petioles that surround them. 

Easily grown in well-drained soil in sun or even partial shade.

Perfect Partners: Salvia sclarea Turkestanica is the star of the July show, backed up by Hydrangea Annabelle and Phlox Eden's Flash.

Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica

(Common name: Turkistan Clary Sage) 

The star of our garden last summer causing a sensation with just about every visitor. This is a truly architectural plant with branched stems and masses of pale blue flowers backed by large pinkish white bracts. 

Normally biennial, although it is possible to encourage it to live another year by cutting back hard as the flowers fade.  Incidentally the flower bracts are strongly aromatic when rubbed and create a difference of opinion, some liking the smell others are repelled. We're told by their keeper at London Zoo that they smell exactly like a male silver back gorilla. 

Self seeds a little but never enough!!!

Photo: Here in our garden in July, Salvia sclarea turkestanica  was a self seeded sensation at the edge of one of our flower beds. © 2009 SpecialPerennials.com all rights reserved.

Salvia sclarea Vatican White

(Common name: White Clary Sage) Unusual pure white counterpart of the common Clary Sage. Not so aromatic as some of the others but normally perennial.

Short spikes of white flowers on neat mounded plants about 1ft 6in tall. Fully hardy. 

Salvia x.suberba are hybrids of S. sylvestris and S. villicaulis.

Hybrids whose parentage includes Salvia nemorosa (see above) that can be treated in the exactly the same way. The epithet sylvestris also means growing in the woods. Completely hardy and trouble free.

Salvia x.sylvestris Blauhügel  

("Blue Hill") Pale blue flowers with violet calyxes in short spikes 1ft 6in - 2ft tall from June through to frosts in flushes. 

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Salvia x.sylvestris Schneehügel 

("Snow Hill)" Pure white sport of the above. 

Salvia x. sylvestris Mainacht

(May Night) Indigo blue flowers from mid May onwards. 2ft tall.

Salvia x. sylvestris Viola Klose

Almost unbelievably rich, deep purple. 1ft 6in tall. Flowers all summer in flushes.

Salvia transsylvanica

Vivid blue flowers on tough, rough-leaved, very hardy plants. Flowering height about 2ft. In flower early summer and again in late summer / autumn if dead flower stems are cut back smartly. 

Occurring over a wide area in the wild from Russia through Romania and introduced to gardens in the late 1980s. 

Perfect partners: The vivid blue of Salvia transsylvanica is highlighted by Scabiosa ochroleuca,  Erigeron Blue Double and Achillea Terracotta in a sunny, dry spot in our garden in late June.