Salvia

Botanical/Latin
   Salvia

Pronunciation
   Sal-vee-ah

Common Name
   Meadow Sage

Hardiness zone range
   4 - 9

General Comments
Sensational garden plants with upright spires of showy flowers, in shades of blue, purple, pink, and white. They are carried on stiff, four sided, angular stems above mild green, textured foliage, from early summer to the first frosts of autumn.

Flowering first in early summer, and again intermittently in late summer and fall, they are long lasting and make excellent cut flowers, as well as tireless bloomers in the garden.

Butterflies and bees are attracted to the nectar rich flowers. Conversely, their tough and reliable constitution give them a high resistance to insect and disease damage, and deer seem to find the aromatic foliage unpalatable.

Uses
They are superb when planted in bold groups; the massed effect of upright flowering stems covered with rich shades of color is stunning. Where space is limited, they can be planted as individual specimens or in small groups. Try to find prominent positions; perhaps, towards the front of borders, along the edges of paths, on sloping banks, on raised beds, or in rock gardens.

In mixed borders with shrubs and conifers, they add valuable color and the handsome foliage makes an excellent filler between the larger companions.

Light Preference
Sun with some tolerance to partial shade.

Culture
Easy to grow, all they need is a well drained soil that is reasonably fertile. They are not heavy feeders, but a light dressing with a well balanced fertilizer, applied in early spring and an occasional feed during the season, will be beneficial. To prolong and encourage repeat flowering, it is important to trim back the old flower stems. See Splendor Suggestions for more detail.

Background
The name Salvia comes from the Latin word Salvare, which means to heal or save, referring to their use, since ancient times, as medicinal plants.

It is a huge and diverse genus, with over 900 species. Only a few of them are reliably hardy in our climatic zones. During the mid 1950's, master plantsman Karl Forester and his employee Ernst Pagels, bred and introduced some wonderful cultivars from Germany. They worked on refining Salvia x superba and S. sylvestris, both European species. They are hardy and have variable color and habit characteristics, which they recognized as having good potential as garden plants.

An interesting story relates that as a young man in 1949, Pagels was given a packet of Salvia sylvestris seed by Karl Foerster. He gave him the seed and said "seek and you will find"! Pagels then began a selection program that led to the introduction in 1955 of S. `East Friesland'. Foerster, meanwhile, was working on S.x superba, and the next year he introduced S.`May Night'. Other fine hybrids followed, and today we can grow and admire these thanks to the skills and foresight of these accomplished men.

Splendor Suggestions
Salvias tend to bloom in flushes, with a succession of buds that are carried on the tips of new shoots. When most of the flowering has finished, they should be sheared back to encourage new growth and another flush of flowers. Deciding exactly when to shear calls for a degree of judgment, as the plants usually have a few flowers remaining. Individual stems can be trimmed, but the most common method is to prune them with clippers or hedging shears, cutting the stems back to about 6 inches from the ground. They will quickly regenerate with renewed flowering, which can continue into autumn, until the arrival of frost. Watering during dry periods, and a little supplementary feeding, will help to keep them lush and healthy.

Companion Plants
They are wonderful with old fashioned roses and bearded Iris. The blue forms are great with the soft yellows and lemons of Coreopsis `Moonbeam', Scabiosa ochroleuca, and the prostrate Helianthemum `Wisley Primrose'. Try some of the other cultivars with the crinkly foliage of Alchemilla mollis or the blue of Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue' and Scabiosa `Perfecta'. Later flushes will go with shrubs like Vitex (Chaste tree), Caryopteris (Blue Spirea), or Buddleias (Butterfly bushes).