Some Thoughts on Salvias:
"For use and delight"

Some Thoughts on Salvias | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Salvias for Delight

Though best known for its valuable culinary and medicinal uses, the genus Salvia offers a diversity of flower colors, leaf textures and scents and plant forms which make it outstanding for the garden and landscape. With almost 900 species (to say nothing of the dozens of cultivars produced by plant breeders), the genus includes-besides shrubs, herbaceous perennials and ground covers-the following easy-to-grow bedding plants.

Annuals and Bedding Plants

Among the popular tender perennials which are grown as annuals is the well known scarlet Salvia splendens. While most of us reject it as being too strident, plant breeders have created a number of cultivars which are appealing. Thompson & Morgan, for example, carries the 'Sizzler', and Park Seed has the 'Hotline' series, which includes violet, burgundy, salmon, white, and bicolor as well as red flowers. The plants are easy to grow from seed started indoors (or direct seeded after warm weather arrives) and will bloom in 6-8 weeks.

Another deservedly popular bedding plant is Salvia farinacea, a borderline hardy perennial which is usually treated as an annual. The species, with blue-purple flowers and a height of 2-3 feet, has been superseded by cultivars including 'Strata' with silvery stems bearing silver-green calyces from which clear blue flowers emerge, 'Victoria' with purple-blue stems and flowers, and 'Cirrus' with white flowers on silvery-white stems. Seeds should be started indoors in late winter because flowering doesn't begin for 3-4 months.

S. coccinea, another tender perennial treated as an annual, grows wild in South and Central America and has been in cultivation for over 200 years. Only recently, however, have I come to know this lovely salvia. Some cultivars available from seed companies include 'Lady in Red', 'Cherry Blossom' (syn. 'Coral Nymph') with a pale pink corolla and upper lip and a deep coral pink lower lip, and 'Snow Nymph'. One of the easiest salvias to grow, coccinea seed should be sown indoors for setting out when the weather warms.

The only true annual among the bedding salvias in Salvia viridis (syn. S. horminum). A unique characteristic of this plant is the group of persistent colorful bracts arranged above the white or lilac flowers. After the blossoms fall, the white, pink, blue or purple bracts remain until autumn. S. viridis makes a good cut flower and keeps its color when dried. It is easy to grow from seed which can be sown outdoors in mid-spring. Thompson & Morgan carries a selection of intense bract coloration and larger bract size in a mixture of colors labelled 'Claryssa'. All of these do best in full sun. S. splendens, S. farinacea, and S. coccinea thrive in moderately fertile, friable soil; S. viridis does best in poor, dry soil. >>

Page 1 Salvias for Use
Page 2 Salvias for Delight: Annuals and Bedding Plants
Page 3 Salvias for Delight: Perennials
Page 4 Salvias for Delight: Tender Perennials
Page 5 Source Books and Further Reading; Plant and Seed Sources