Salvia is a excellent plant to put in a garden. They are drought tolerant (which is important in Tennessee) and look great. They also come in many colors including red, pink, white, orange, blue, and purple. Depending on where you live and the variety you choose it may be a perennial or an annual. According to the website Floridata, there are more than 700 different kinds of salvias or sages. In our yard we have several perennial Salvias (Salvia nemerosa) including the ‘East Friesland’ Hybrid Sage, ‘Caradonna’ Meadow Sage and ‘MayNight’ Salvia. All three of these plants are bluish to purple in color. They flower in early summer then repeat later in the fall with another flush of flower stalks.
The Salvia I am looking forward to planting this year is Salvia splendens ‘Flare.’ This salvia has bright red flowers and is very heat tolerant. It is commonly grown as an annual from seed but according to various seed merchants can be grown as a perennial in milder climates. It is native to Brazil. According to BackyardGardener.com its hardiness zone is from 5-9 which puts Tennessee right in the middle. They also list it as tolerant to deer (somewhat of a concern in my yard), drought (a big concern in Tennessee), heat and humidity (we’re in the south of course that’s a concern!), slopes (not a big deal), and the seashore (I won’t have to worry about that! And if I do we all have bigger problems to worry about!)
How and where I will use it:
Salvia splendens ‘Flare’ will be used as a hot color plant in and around my rain garden. I’ll raise it from seed to save money. I plan on mixing it with various warm-colored rudbeckias, asclepias tuberosa, and ornamental grasses. Hot colors are mostly colors like yellow, orange and red. They lie next to each other on the color wheel.
Cool. Looking forward to seeing it. I love the salvias. I don’t have many types, just carodonna, east friesland and may night. They root very easily from cuttings. Once you get yours started from seed you can save money and time by doing cuttings. Never heard of Flare and I will look for it.
I’ll definitely try the cuttings! To me that is the most exciting part! I plan on taking cuttings of my other salvias once they emerge from winter. I bought two of the ‘May Night’s at full price but I think I payed less than $5 for the other 8. I can’t pass up a plant bargain!
If you like salvia I have a favorite native salvia to tell you about Salvia Azurea. What a sweet blue and it was flowering in my garden up until the first frost. Here is a link: http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/plant.asp?code=F430.
I bought the plants from Growild in Fairview…
Gail
Gail that is a nice one!
I’ve heard about Growild in Fairview. They deal in a lot of natives. I seem to remember hearing that they helped design some green roofs in Nashville. How are their prices on their plants? What is your impression of their nursery?