Super Salvias!

Just googled it and it deffo fits - summer flowering and the right smell. Thanks!

 

might be a good idea-a blue flower thread!!

 

You start it and I'll add to it - I have a few!

 

So glad I came across this thread - I had no idea there were so many varieties of salvia. I've got a number myself, e.g. S. patens, S. splendens, S. nemerosa and I think I have "Hot Lips" which is a shrubby one I bought at a carboot sale last summer. I also tried Salvia horminum last year and it was lovely as a cut flower. I am stunned at the variety and will certainly keep my eyes peeled for new salvias for my own garden. Thanks for the info, all.

 

Tiarella - I believe that there are loads of different Salvias - of the order of 900 species though no one is quite sure how many. And that's ignoring hybrids and cultivars. Most are not really garden worthy - but it still leaves many that are.

Annual Salvias.

Curiously there seem to be very few annuals. The only ones that I know of are :-


Salvia algeriensis, which comes from Algeria and Morocco. Its an annual that is not hardy but insists on flowering early. You can see from the picture above that it is flowering along with the Primula. Its not an easy one to grow as being tender, and flowering so early, it needs to do much of its growing inside for me.


Salvia subrotunda is a fairly unusual one. Its thought to be an annual, but no one really knows. However I have never managed to overwinter it. It seems to be closely related to S. coccinea - but its more orange. Its also tender, but easier to grow as it flowers later.


The really stunning one,and very garden worthy, is Salvia viridis, which used to be called S. hormium. The colour comes from the bracts, like many Salvias, and it is very long flowering. Most places sell packets of mixed colours, but Chilterns sell the individual colours of pink, two blues and white.

Other Salvias that we think of as annuals are in fact tender perennials.



Such as the ubiquitous Salvia splendens hybrids. Photo sagewisdom.org
Although these are tender perennials, in my experience they are better from seed than trying to overwinter them.


Another popular so called 'annual' is Salvia farinacea. Photo - gardencrossings.com. Again I can see no benefit in overwintering it.

This has been crossed with Salvia longispicata to produce S. 'Mystic Spires' - which in my opinion really is a good plant and worth overwintering. For many people it is probably hardy - but its borderline here in Yorkshire.

 

Love the look of that Salvia algeriensis Peter!

 

Thank you Peters

Thank you Peters for these wonderful photos. I am currently reading "The new book of Salvias" by Betsy Clebsch. I adore this Salvia farinacea pictured here. And that Salvia viridis too. All very yummy -a lovely start to my day,
thank you,
Jenny namaste

 

For some reason, S. farinacea never does very well for me, often turning up its toes quite early in the season. It is lovely, however. Thank you for the great pics, Peter. There is something addictive about salvias; I could easily become a collector if I had more space! It's a shame that so many people only know the red bedding variety.

 

I would agree with you ClaraLou. I haven't found S. farinacea easy to grow - though it does look stunning when I have seen it grown properly elsewhere.


That's why I like S. 'Mystic Spires' (above), which is a sterile hybrid with S. farinacea as one of its parents. Its a perennial which can live several years, though it does get rather woody after a time and need to be refreshed from cuttings. Its probably hardy in most parts of the UK.

 

Thanks for the info, Peter. I have the third pic, i.e. salvia viridis (known to me as hormium) and I got the seeds from Chilterns. I think I still have some left!! I'd forgotten about salvia farinacea and I too have found it difficult to grow. I do believe I have half a tray of this in my greenhouse as we speak!
I've just remembered that there is a specialist salvia nursery in Kent called Dyson's (honestly - I've just Googled it). I shall be making a beeline there at the earliest opportunity. Here is a link to their website where there are lots of photos of salvias of all descriptions: http://www.greatcompgarden.co.uk/dysonsnurseries.html Hmmm, they're a fairish distance. They have a list of Plant Fairs they are attending..... I hope this is of interest to others looking at this thread.

 

Tiarella, Dyson's is in the grounds of Old Comp garden, which is worth visiting, particularly early in the season when the rhododendrons and azaleas are in bloom. There is also a little tearoom where you can sit with a cuppa and a slice of cake! I see they're having a 'spring fling' this sunday, when they'll be a number of specialist nurseries setting up stalls. I went to a sale there organised by the Hardy Plant Society a couple of years back and it was excellent.

http://www.greatcompgarden.co.uk/

I think Peter knows about Dyson's ... I don't think there's much he doesn't know about salvias.

 

Thanks for the link Tiarella - there are not many Salvia specialists in this country.
May I add to your link :-

http://www.robinssalvias.com/ Robin Middleton's site has already been mentioned. It has a superb gallery of Salvias and Robin goes round the world to Salvia conventions and probably knows as much as anyone in this country.

http://www.worldofsalvias.com/gallry07.htm Rich Dufresnes' site in the USA. I have had odd chats with Rich on another forum. He has a PhD in organic chemistry and now runs a specialist Salvia nursery in North Carolina. I absolutely love his illustrations which are all done by him and are a mixture of art and photography.

ClaraLou. I am getting more and more convinced that the secret of success with so many tender plants including Salvia farinacea in having enough heat at an early stage. I have often quoted Christopher Lloyd (my guru) who said that tender annuals like Cosmos, Cleome and Tithonia mustn't be put out too early. If they get too cold early on they tend to sulk and never do well. I have experienced this with them - in a warm summer they can do brilliantly but if they are not warm enough they are rubbish.

I have seen beautiful displays of Salvia farinacea, but I suspect that all those plants were raised in a heated greenhouse. Later in the year when they are bedded out, they are big enough and its warm enough for them to continue to do well. But if you grow them yourself from seed and are not able to keep them warm enough early on they may not do well.

 

Thanks for that, Peter.

 

And thanks from me too. I was given an overwintered young Salvia "Victoria" today. I must keep it warm and not be impatient to plant it out in the border - even though it may be a bit warmer here down south !!
Jenny namaste

 

ClaraLou, thanks for the inside info re Great Comp Gardens, I'll see if I can arrange a visit during April or May (my favourite time of year in many respects).

Also thanks Peter for the extra links (which are now in "favourites" for me to view at my leisure). I seem to have maybe five surviving salvia farinacea in the greenhouse, which is unheated, so now I know why my success rate is not good! I've noted your comments re cosmos & cleome - that explains a lot!! I have two trays of various cosmos in said greenhouse. They look okay, if a bit spindly at present. This current cold weather doesn't help.

On checking, my shrubby salvia is called "Lipstick" and not "Hot Lips".

Tiarella