Time is a luxury. Although I throughly enjoy working in the garden, I like to spend more hours - just being in the garden. When I began my extreme makeover garden project this fall, I realized that not only was I keeping the best bloomers, but the easiest plants to maintain. I ruthlessly culled out poor performers, aggressive or high maintenance plants and threw those on the compost heap.
My garden conditions:
Zone 7b
full sun all day
outside the fence, deer resistance is critical
drought tolerant, once plants are established
Salvias
Salvias provide a long bloom season and there are varieties available for many growing zones. This is important - choose salvias that are appropriate for your zone. Salvias that grow in New Mexico may not grow in your zone.
To help the perennial salvias overwinter, I do not cut them back in the fall. Some varieties of salvia require slightly more attention than others, but I still consider all of those in my garden to be low-maintenance. There are also annual salvias that can be grown for color all summer and then pulled out if they don't overwinter.
Photographing salvias is difficult, but otherwise, they are great plants!
It is November and almost every salvia in my garden is still in bloom. Only the salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' and uliginosa (bog sage) are not in bloom. The nemorosa blooms in spring and may be deadheaded for lesser repeat blooms (they reseed, but that's okay). I'm not a big fan of nemorosa because there are so many other salvias that bloom longer, however I like 'Caradonna' for the spring blooms and nice foliage.
The bog sage blooms non-stop all summer and takes a break only when the temperatures drop. It can be aggressive, but the stolons are easy to pull when it wanders too far.
For year-round, the salvia greggii varieties are my absolute favorites and I have them in violet, dark purple, deep red, cherry red, magenta, white and grape. They are semi-evergreen to evergreen in my garden. These salvias will put on a big spring bloom display, bloom off-and-on all summer and then put on the best display in autumn when so many other flowers have stopped blooming. In very late winter, all I do is a little shaping of the shrub-like plants to prevent stem breakage.
If you asked a hummingbird to select their favorite, it would be salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' so I have at least fifteen of these! This is a tender perennial for my zone, but I've had good luck with overwintering. This salvia can take a bit more summer moisture, richer soil and partial shade than other salvias. Still, it cannot be in a wet winter location in the garden. Black & Blue blooms from summer until fall freezes.
I've added salvia 'Mystic Spires Blue' as well as it's larger parent 'Indigo Spires' to the garden this summer. I have high hopes that these non-stop bloomers will overwinter here as they are truly beautiful and the color works with all other colors.
There are literally hundreds of salvias from which to choose, but I don't consider myself a collector, just a gardener who loves to grow great plants. These low-maintenance, deer resistant, rabbit resistant, drought tolerant plants work hard for me, so I'll keep them!
For more information on salvias, I can think of no better resources than Robin's Salvias (United Kingdom) for an incredible gallery and Rich Dufresne, a salvia expert right here in North Carolina who has introduced so many salvias to gardeners. Both gentlemen participate regularly on the GardenWeb Salvia Forum.
Words and photos by Freda Cameron; Home garden; 2009
20 comments:
Hmmmm, I think I need more Salvias in my garden. As usual Cameron, you have inspired me to yet more work!!! :)
You got a comment in there while I was editing the post to add another photo and link! You're fast!
Cameron,
Your salvias are wonderful. I see the greggii on lots of blogs. Salvia coccinea does better here. For some reason I've always thought mystic spires and indigo spires were one in the same? They sell them interchangeably here. hmmm... must look into that. They get so tall here and the bees just love them but they like our fall, winter and spring better than our wicked summers. I haven't managed to over-summer them here yet. :-)
Salvias are great plants when (like you said) you choose the right ones for your garden.
YOU are a master at that!!!
Meems
I hope your salvia overwinters. I tried Mystic Spires last year and it was magnificent. I had high hopes it would last as it was pretty sturdy but did not come back for me. No more but I do still love the salvias.
I love your salvias. How wonderful to have such a great collection of them. They are all beauties. Right now I have the red greggii.
FlowerLady
Hi Cameron
This is your favourite plant right?
I have a gregii type, not sure which and to which I do marginally more than nothing. It's come through the last few winters just fine and blooms really well except in August for some reason.
Rob
Hi Cameron, nice writeup and great info. You do have a nice variety of salvia...I hope my new ones will come up next yr,. but I'm told they are 'annuals' where I live--even though it said it was a perennial on the original tag. I have some perennial salvias but my 'mystic spires' is the variety I really enjoyed this year.
I love a mass planting of salvias, especially when the butterflies or hummingbirds are busy over with the blooms.
We love salvias. I think we have at least 100 different varieties. We have been lucky so far this year and we haven't had a hard frost yet so we still have many in bloom including the ones you mention above. We are in zone 7B (north of Seattle). We have grown Mystic Spires for 4 years and have not yet been able to get it to over winter in our area. I'd recommend taking a cutting to be one the safe side.
A couple of interesting ones you may want to try - 'Wild Watermelon' - a gorgeous hot pink; 'Hot Lips'- a red and white bi-color. Both of these are very reliable and have come back each year for at least 4-5 years. We also like Phyllis's Fancy (similar to Waverly) but it is a little bit more tender and may not come back.
I also agree - it is hard to photograph. I use a 100mm macro lens but it has to be a very still day. A little wind will ruin the picture. It is also difficult to get the correct depth of field. But you do an excellent job!
I'm looking forward to hearing what comes back next year.
Mystic Spires is an offspring of Indigo Spires. Mystic stays shorter and more compact while Indigo towers above 4 feet. The blooms are basically identical (to me), though the Indigo spires are longer. I have planted 3 of the Mystic in my "almost frost-free" microclimate in front of our porch to take advantage of the passive solar aspects of the house. I do need to take cuttings, just in case.
Marta -- 100 varieties! WOW! I'd love to see your garden photos.
Cameron
I have several of the 'May Night' salvia and they do very well in my zone 5 garden. I'd like to find some others that would do as well.
I love the colors of the ones you have!
Cameron, Thank you for educating me about not cutting the salvias back in the fall...I usually let them go to seed but had cut them down...I wondered where they had gone this year! I totally agree with your
S nemorosa assessment! It doesn't rebloom and the bloom is over too soon. They certainly are hard to photograph! gail
Great post. I need more salvias besides S. leucantha, S. farinacea and S. coccinea. S. leucantha came in a pot labeled 'Salvia' so I got lucky. Salvias are so versatile.
Hi Cameron, What a helpful post! I tend to forget salvia (and there are so many varieties anymore), so I thank you for your inspiration! (I'm going to bookmark this one.) Thank you! :-)
Oh these are my favorite perennials! You have some gorgeous selections in your garden. Mystic Spires is hardy here so far. It overwintered last year beautifully and just gets bigger & better. I've been eyeballing Purple Majesty online, so pretty. Next year I plan on adding 'Sapphire Blue', 'Argentina Skies' and Salvia leucanthia (Mexican Bush Sage). :)
Cameron, I am interested in the bog salvia. I had this beautiful salvia for several years, then it just disappeared. I have not found it anywhere since. Would you mind sharing where you found yours?
Janie - I got my bog sage years ago at a local nursery. I think Bluestone Perennials carries it, but I would wait until spring to get this sage. It doesn't have to grow in moist soils. I've seen it growing in drier conditions at the NC State Fair Grounds in Raleigh.
That photo of Mystic Spires is just lovely. I plan to try more salvias next year. I'm like you, no time for the high maintenance divas.
Marnie
Salvias make a statement in your garden, Cameron ... a great plant for many to consider ... I love them!
Hi Cameron, the salvias are just fabulous. Ours are nearly all still blooming as well. I hope your new ones overwinter. It has been fun adding the new ones and I will look for the bog sage. The pollinators and hummers do love them all, it is hard for me to tell which ones they actually prefer, they seem to visit them all. It took several tries to get black and blue to get established, but it has spread nicely now. Some references say they need constant moisture, something I don't have anywhere. They are fine on the slope in part shade. Love them all! :-)
Frances
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