Sage 'n' Onion?

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They go together, don’t they. Do you make your own sage and onion stuffing, or do you buy a packet?

Ah, sorry, but this blog is only about Sage…and its latin name is Salvia. The one we use in cooking with the onion is Salvia officinalis and I have it growing in my garden.

I found out recently that Salvia has been used as a herb and household remedy since Roman times. It was also an ingredient in spells and charms!

Back in 2007, I wrote about the Salvias in my garden. At that time, I didn’t know how enormous the family of Salvias is – well over 900 are in cultivation! There are perennials, biennials and annual Salvias.

What I did know then was that I had inherited some beautiful long flowering plants which attracted insects and were a lovely deep purple.

Salvia nemorosa ‘Mainacht’

I also knew that they were Salvias, and found out the rest of their name. This was the beginning of another love affair with a family of plants. No, I don’t eat the leaves from them, but one of the things that all Salvias have in common is the wonderful scent of the foliage.

Salvia nemorosa ‘Schneehugel’

I disovered that in the S. nemorosa group there were white flowered forms, too.

Salvia nemorosa ‘Ostfriesland rosea’

And deep pink ones. Just a gorgeous colour!

Purple is still my favourite, though. I came across one called ‘Caradonna’ which has taller flower stalks and the stems are very dark. It makes a wonderful upright ‘accent plant’ in a flower bed.

S. nemorosa ‘Caradonna’

And then a little one – only about 3" tall. It’s called ‘Marcus’ and it tucks in the front of the border.

S. nemorosa ‘Marcus’

S. x superba ‘Merleau Rose’

This one, as you’ll see, is called ‘Merleau Rose’. It keeps on and on flowering – it still has some flowers now! The secret of keeping Salvias flowering is to deadhead them very carefully. Just cut the spent flower to the next set of leaves and the side shoots will flower – and so on, and on, from May until the autumn.

A rather different form of Salvia nemorosa – S. n. ‘Plumosa’.

Salvia greggii ‘Alba’

One day, I called in at a small Nursery on the way to Minehead. I knew they stocked Penstemons, and thought I’d see which ones they had. I didn’t come away with a Penstemon, though. I found a new type of Salvia – a shrubby one. It was a revelation! It’s hardy, it flowers for ages, and I’ve found a few more since that first one.

S. greggii ‘Raspberry Royale’

S. greggii ‘Rosea’

A very similar sub-shrub is called Salvia microphylla as you can see.

S. microphylla ‘Icing Sugar’

Such a pretty one, this.

S. x jamensis ‘Primrose Lights’

And here’s my cream one – I love this. I got it after I saw it at an Open Garden over two years ago – and planted it in my island bed, where it’s very happy.

S. coahuilensis

I almost forgot this beauty – the purple one with the unpronounceable name! And, yes, it’s hardy too.

Two more herbaceous plants with equally unpronounceable names

S. hierosolymitana

Such a beautiful plant – I found it at a Rare Plant Fair.

S. forskaohli

I love this one – it’s beautiful in the border and again, the flowers last for ages.

But there are other kinds of Salvias, too. Some are rather strange – I’m not at all sure about this, for example.

S. lyrata ‘Purple Volcano’

And have you ever seen a stranger shaped flower than this bright cerise one? It flowers in late summer into the autumn. I woudn’t call it pretty – perhaps ‘unusual’ is a better word!

S. involucrata ‘Bethelii’

I said earlier that all Salvia leaves have the same distinctive fragrance. Their stems are square, too. Another common factor in Salvias is the flower – although there are so many apparently different plants, if you look closely at an individual flower, you’ll notice the two lips that each one has, whether they’re tiny as in ‘Marcus’ or pretty obvious as in the next photo where each flower is large.

S. hians

I’ll just show you a couple of plants from yet another branch of the Salvia family – the S. pratense group.

S. pratense ‘Pink Delight’

These are tall mid-border plants, and they make quite an impact.

S. pratense ‘Blue Enigma’

But if I had to choose one Salvia out of all the plants I have in the garden – it would be Salvia vercillicata. Look at this for a mass of summer colour!

And my favourite cultivar of S. vercillicata? ‘Purple Rain’.

It’s a wonderful plant, although I admit that it does need some support to stop it flopping. Again, it needs careful deadheading, and it will then flower from June right through to autumn.

Do Salvias attract insects? Oh yes – bees and butterflies love them. Here’s ‘Purple Rain’ close up.

How to place these beautiful plants in the garden? They must have sun – that’s the most important thing, but they blend in with other plants happily. I wouldn’t be without them.

27 Oct, 2010
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Comments

Louise1

So .... you're also a salvia-aholic aswell as a geranium-aholic ;-)
You've got an amazing collection there, Spritz :-)

27 Oct, 2010

Ladyessex1

What a lovely show of Salvias you have there, I have enjoyed your blog on them and I will be looking out for them when I'm browsing the garden centre's, think they would look good in my front garden revamp that we done.
Thank's for showing us the pics of yours. :o))))

27 Oct, 2010

Karensusan63

My goodness, what a great blog and great photos. I am short of time this morning and will return to this later, but I just wanted to note that that bright pink one looks just like a pink tarantula to me!! I'm definitely coming back to this later to get a proper look and maybe plan some for next year! Off to Pilates class now....and then to Blair Atholl later for an afternoon out with OH...might take camera...it is very beautiful up there!

27 Oct, 2010

Pamg

didn't realise the weath of beauty in salvias lovely Spritz thanks

27 Oct, 2010

Sage 'n' Onion?

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