The licorice-like fragrance of its foliage and the big whorls of large, sky blue flowers make this a stand-out sage. Tall and wide, it forms a tidy, long blooming background, screen or border.
(Sinaloan Blue Sage) It's difficult to say which trait is more attractive about this sage -- the airy spikes of deep, true blue flowers or the fascinating spear-shaped foliage that varies from deep green to purple, forming a tidy mat.
(Tall Big Leaf Sage) Cobalt blue flowers seem to float in airy clusters on 12-inch-tall branching spikes above the bright green, velvety foliage of this South American native. Up to 5-feet tall, tidy and upright in habit, this sage makes a fine background or border planting when massed.
(Woolly White Sage) Salvia candidissima has tidy, upright stems covered with whorls of creamy white blossoms shaped like tiny parrot beaks. They rise from a mid-green rosette of leaves that become fuzzier and whiter as summer heat increases.
(Anthony Parker Bush Sage) Floriferous spikes of dark blue to purple flowers bloom midsummer to fall on this tidy, mid-height subshrub that grows as wide as it is tall.
(Marine Blue Sage) The name and origin of this fine cultivar has long been in dispute. It may be a clone or hybrid of the Mexican plant Salvia chamaedryoides var.isochroma. It is one of the prettiest, strongest sages we grow.
(Red Stem Forsythia Sage) The thick, square, red stems of this variety of Forsythia Sage make it conspicuously different from the species and from everything else in your garden. Its jointed stalks look a little like rhubarb gone mad!
(Silver Leaf Forysthia Sage) It's the foliage of this clone that makes it so different from its parent plant. The leaves are a lovely silver and smaller than the green leaves of the species. However, they both have buttery yellow, Forsythia-like blossoms.
(Big Leaf Scandent Mexican Sage) Bigger leaves, larger, looser flowers and pink petioles -- the tiny stemlets connecting leaves to stems -- differentiate this this clone from its parent plant Salvia iodantha. A winter-blooming perennial, it's covered with velvety, 8-inch-long, magenta blossoms from fall into winter.
(John Whittlesey Sage) Hardy, vigorous and long blooming, John Whittlesey Sage is a hybrid of D'Arcy's Sage (Salvia darcyi) -- a native of Mexico -- and Mountain Sage (S. microphylla), which is native to the American Southwest and Mexico.
(Forysthia Sage) This statuesque perennial grows up to 10 feet tall, but spreads only 3 feet wide. It is a late bloomer from Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental mountains where it grows at altitudes of 4,000 to 5,000 feet and tolerates temperatures down to 20 degrees F.
(Elk Blue Note Sage) In Europe and Australia there is a popular and widely used seed grown Salvia variety called 'Blue Note'. Our offering, 'Elk Blue Note', is the result of several generations of careful breeding and selection.
(Roman Red Sage) This handsome, long blooming hybrid sage features a dramatic combination of scarlet flowers and deep rust-to-merlot calyxes. Deadheading spent blossoms prolongs bloom time.
(Wendy's Wish Sage) A new hybrid Salvia from Australia, Wendy's Wish is absolutely spectacular! Quick to bloom, compact and tidy in habit, we believe this to be one of the finest of all Salvia varieties.
Butterflies in the Garden |
1. Creating a Butterfly Garden with Delectable Salvias and Milkweeds |
Creating a butterfly garden is like creating a teen-friendly home. You need to offer tasty snacks, healthy beverages, and comfortable accommodations that aren't too tidy. Like the teens that fill your basement and backyard, butterflies will keep coming back if you give them what they need. The variety of plants in your yard is the main reason why butterflies do or don’t visit. Salvias are among the popular plants for adult butterflies that love nectar. |
Hummingbirds in the Garden |
2. A Gardeners Guide to Hummingbird Sage |
Among the hummers' favorites: Salvia spathacea, commonly known as Hummingbird Sage. As it name suggests, this California native produces the hummingbirds' flower of choice, blooming from late winter through summer -- and sometimes again in Fall -- with rose-pink to magenta blossoms. Available in six varieties, this robust perennial not only attracts hummers with its abundant nectar, it's easy to grow and enhances any landscape with its aromatic blooms and fragrant evergreen foliage. |
Ask Mr. Sage |
3. Ask Mr. Sage: How Should I Prune my Salvias? |
Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery specializes in Salvias and often receives questions about how to prune them. Although getting good at pruning takes practice, Salvias rebound quickly if you make mistakes. A key to successful pruning is understanding the varying needs of four main categories of sages. Ask Mr. Sage is a regular feature of the FBTS Everything Salvias Blog. |
4. Ask Mr. Sage: How to Combat Whiteflies Safely |
Ask Mr. Sage is our blog's new question-and-answer feature, based on calls and emails received at Flowers by the Sea. This question concerns how to safely rid Salvias of Whiteflies and their eggs. |
5. Cleanup in the Garden: Healthy Pruning and Mulching of Salvia |
Sometimes it’s wise not to get too tidy in the garden. When preparing Salvias for Winter dormancy, moderation is the rule. Regional climate affects how much trimming and mulching are necessary in late autumn. |
6. Fall Planting is Superior for Salvias |
Fall is the best time to plant many Salvias. Read on to find out why . . . This picture, "Autumn", was painted by Giuseppe Arcimboldo in 1573. |
7. July in the Salvia Garden |
July is a time of lush plant growth and pollinator activity in Salvia gardens. Aside from weeding and taking breaks to watch bees, hummingbirds and other small wildlife, there are many tasks to attend to in the sage garden during July. Flowers by the Sea Farm and Online Nursery offers a list of midsummer tasks to keep your garden buzzing and blooming. |
New at FBTS |
8. New Product Filtering Tool Helps You with Decision Making |
Flowers by the Sea now offers a powerful, do-it-yourself, product-filtering tool that makes plant selection easier and faster. It sets up a matrix of choices to help customers sort possible selections for their gardens based on USDA cold hardiness zones, sun exposure, mature height and spread of plants, soil type and water needs. This article explains how the tool works and provides examples of how to use it. |
Salvia Small Talk |
9. Salvia Small Talk: Garden Diary |
Keeping track of plantings from one season to the next can help you improve choices and repeat successes. One way of doing this is to keep a casual garden diary. No, I don't believe Samuel Pepys kept one. |
10. The Power of Scent |
While it's true that not all Salvias smell, well, pleasant, many varieties are grown specifically for the aromatic or even sweet aromas that they release into the air. These ten Salvias are our top picks for the best-smelling varieties in the garden. |
11. Winter Blooming Salvias (Part II) |
The Blue Species When I think of Winter blooming "font-style: italic;">Salvias, the warm colors – red, orange and pink – come to mind first. Possibly because THE most spectacular Sage of all, "font-style: italic;">Salvia gesneriifolia 'Tequila', is a presence to contend with, growing for us over 16 feet tall and 30 feet across! But looking around our gardens this cool day, there are a number of very fine blue and purple Sages in bloom now. So in Part 2 of the Winter "font-style: italic;">Salvia series, we’ll discuss these fine plants. |
Salvia Small Talk |
12. Salvia Small Talk: Deadheading Evergreen, Woody Salvias |
Deadheading withered blossoms from evergreen, woody Salvia, such as Sacred White Sage, makes them tidy and repeats bloom. You can deadhead them throughout the growing season. |
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