What flowers all summer long in glorious jewel tones, looks good in a pot and is easy to reproduce for free?
The answer is salvias, ornamental members of the sage family. The name comes from the Latin ‘to save’ or ‘heal’ and the leaves of the common sage (Salvia officinalis), native to the Mediterranean, are used in herbal medicine and cooking.
Bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects love their trumpet-like flowers, and they make great companion plants for roses in a mixed border or in prairie-style planting.
There are three main groups of salvias, many from the Americas. There are hardy, shrubby herbaceous plants that can survive winter outside. Next are bedding salvias, grown for summer colour, often annuals or biennials. Finally, there are tender salvias, which are brought inside in winter.
All like full sun and soil with good drainage. Plant between May and August, watering them well until established.
Purple reign: Salvias attract butterflies and pollinators (stock image)
DEEP PLUM
Shrubby salvias are woody plants with a long flowering season, ideal for a mixed border. It is best to prune stems back to new shoots in mid-spring rather than autumn.
Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’ is an evergreen shrub with small aromatic green leaves and deep plum flowers.
Baby sage (S. microphylla) is another good shrubby salvia with racemes of dark red flowers in summer through to autumn. S. ‘Hot Lips’ is a popular evergreen with distinctive bi-coloured white and red flowers, while S. ‘Amethyst Lips’ has white, purpletipped blooms.
Herbaceous salvias, which are hardy in most of the UK, flower in late spring to early summer. Sometimes you can encourage a second flush by cutting them back immediately after flowering.
These die back over winter and can be taken down to ground level in autumn before new shoots come through.
A garden designers’ favourite is S. nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ with its purple spires. It works well in naturalistic planting schemes with other herbaceous perennials and grasses.
Award-winning wood sage S. x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ has dark green foliage with deep violet flowers.
Common sage, Salvia officinalis broad-leaved being grown for the kitchen (stock image)
SULTRY SHADES
Bedding salvias such as the scarlet S. coccinea or purple S. farinacea ‘Victoria’ look good in hanging baskets or pots with lobelias and marigolds.
S. viridis, an annual sage, has pink, white and blue bracts. S. ‘Love and Wishes’ has reddish-purple flowers on spires up to 80cm tall. Gentian sage S. patens ‘Cambridge Blue’ has lovely pale blue flowers.
You can grow salvias from seed or from cuttings taken in late summer. First, cut non-flowering stems and place in a plastic bag.
With a clean, sharp knife trim to 5cm to 8cm lengths, just below a leaf node, and take off the bottom leaves. Insert into modules filled with half compost and half vermiculite, then mist spray.
They will develop roots and you can pot them up to grow on for next year.
