Salvia elegans Purple Form

Many of my Salvia plants look atrocious right now and are just about to be given a severe cutting back. Others, particularly the 'Wish' series and the Salvia microphylla and Salvia x jamensis cultivars, were pruned in May and have formed neat cushions of foliage, waiting to flower later on in spring. However, there are some Salvia that are in bloom and giving me great comfort at the moment.

Salvia wagneriana - pale pink form

Salvia wagneriana - pale pink form

Originally, when I became hooked on Salvia, I was enthralled by the winter-flowering specimens - because they so flamboyantly defied the winter chill that sees most other plants go into hibernation during the cooler months. I had to have all of them in my garden. What a joy it was to walk round the garden on a freezing morning and see these amazing plants flowering so generously. But I hadn't reckoned on how enormous many of them grow! Some are intent on reaching for the sky and each took up an inordinate amount of room - examples being Salvia involucrata x karwinskii 'Winter Lipstick', the various forms of Salvia wagneriana (the pale pink version is pictured above), Salvia 'Pink Icicles' and Salvia gesneriiflora 'Tequila'. Even when cut back drastically in summer as well as after flowering, I still found them too big for my garden, and the extra work of pruning was starting to wear thin on me, so I reluctantly took them out. In large country gardens, they are truly superb, and I envy my friends who have the space to let these beauties have their head.

Salvia Timboon

Salvia Timboon

I do, however, still grow a couple of larger specimens - 'Timboon' (pictured at left) has deep burgundy-pink flowers in wine-coloured calyces in late autumn and winter. Even when it is in bud, it is beautiful. Though capable of growing to 2 m or more, it seems more upright than the other larger forms to which it is related. It is an immensely cheering sight in winter and still looks good at the moment. I also have retained Salvia elegans Purple Form (shown at the start of the blog) because it is a fairly upright, willowy grower (I have it weaving in the branches of a nearby silver birch tree) and it flowers for so long with its dainty cerise spires - from winter to late spring. It gets to about 2 m tall. It has a nice purplish tinge to its leaves.

Salvia Omaha Gold

Salvia Omaha Gold

I also still grow Salvia 'Omaha Gold', which appears to be a variegated-leaf form of Salvia 'Costa Rica Blue' although does not get as large, growing to a maximum of about 2 m in height. The leaves have a golden edge, which is more pronounced in the cooler months. It is pretty grown nearby a gold-leaf shrub such as Duranta 'Sheena's Gold', which complements both the leaves and the deep purple-blue flowers. It flowers for much of the year but has a break in summer. It is best to grow it in part-shade, with morning sun and afternoon shade.

Salvia dorisiana (left) with Peristrophe bivalvis

Salvia dorisiana (left) with Peristrophe bivalvis

I simply have to keep Salvia dorisiana, the fruit salad sage. It was one of the first salvias I ever grew, so I find it very hard to think of getting rid of it. I admit it can take up a lot of space in height and width (2 m), though pruning can keep it smaller, but it is sumptuous at this time of year. It has its hot pink blooms from late July until October - which are gorgeous - but I also love the smell of its big, velvety leaves, which really do smell like a fruit salad. The flowers look lovely with silver foliage nearby, such as Plectranthus argentatus or low-growing Salvia discolor (ht 1 m - which also flowers bravely on throughout winter, with its unusual navy-blue inflorecences); and it also coincides with the blooming of the brilliant magenta-flowered Peristrophe bivalvis, which provides a good companion (illustrated above). Salvia dorisiana will also cope with a bit of shade, which is useful. It makes a nice background of lush foliage when not in bloom.

Salvia roscida (back centre of photo)

Salvia roscida (back centre of photo)

Salvia roscida (syn. Salvia fallax) is a late winter-early spring flowering plant from Mexico, which grows up to 1.5 to 2.5 m tall. It has spires of many small soft blue flowers over a long period in winter and early spring, and mixes well with many of the blooms of this time, such as Clivia and firefly (Justicia floribunda). It also combines well with some of the fresh new lime-green leaves of spring. It prefers a degree of shade, making it a valuable mixer.

Salvia rubiginosa intertwined with Aechmea gamosepala

Salvia rubiginosa intertwined with Aechmea gamosepala

Salvia rubiginosa (ht 1-1.5 m), with its rich blue flowers accentuated by purple calyces has been in bloom already for quite some time and will continue on until early spring. It is sometimes known colloquially as rosy bract sage. It pairs well with almost any other colour but at the moment I am enjoying it intermingling with the bromeliad Aechmea gamosepala, which has unusual brush-like pink inflorescences tipped with the same colour blue as the Salvia, in bloom at the same time. Both plants grow well in part shade.

Pink form of tall Salvia splendens in the garden of Sandra Wilson in Sydney

Pink form of tall Salvia splendens in the garden of Sandra Wilson in Sydney

Salvia splendens is usually regarded as an annual but there are tall ones that last for several years, and they flower basically all year round, only stopping when they are pruned! They grow in sun or part shade. I particularly like the soft pink and purple ones. They grow like small shrubs to about 1.2 m, and are a welcome presence at this time of year. The cultivars 'Go-Go' Purple and 'Go-Go' Scarlet are the only named ones I grow; the rest have come from seedlings from the gardens of friends, and they self-seed quite freely in my garden too!

Salvia Van Houttei

Salvia Van Houttei

Shrubby Salvia 'Van Houttei' is said to be an early Dutch selection that was made of Salvia splendens before the dwarf forms were bred for popular bedding plants. It has relatively large, tubular maroon flowers, held in a dark calyx. The plant grows to about 1 m tall and as wide, and prefers to grow in part-shade, especially in hotter areas. As it flowers almost continuously (seeming to have a rest in mid-summer in my garden), it can be pruned progressively, by removing one woody stem on a regular basis through the year. Alternatively, it can be hard-pruned along with most of the shrubby salvias in late winter: it will quickly regrow.

Salvia fruticosa Greek Skies

Salvia fruticosa Greek Skies

There are a couple of Salvia that start to flower in August. One of these is the cultivar of Salvia fruticosa called 'Greek Skies', which looks a lot like the culinary sage (Salvia officinalis) but grows better and forms a shrub shape, about 60 cm tall and quite wide, with scented, silver-grey leaves and gorgeous blue flowers in late winter and spring. A Mediterranean plant, it needs to grow in a hot, dry spot to perform at its best, and is drought and frost tolerant once established. It will only last a couple of years in Sydney, but it is still well worth growing, as it is so easily replaced by a new cutting.

All these Salvia flowers cheer me up no end at this time of year, providing oases of rich colour when much of the garden is looking utterly dreary and bare!

Blog originally posted 9 August 2015; updated 20 August 2023.