Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I'm crazy about sages

I've posted a few of my favorite Salvias before, but I feel that I only touched the tip of the iceberg there. There are so many beautiful species of sages in a rainbow of color options and most of them are perfect colorful perennials for a drought tolerant garden. Here are a few more to think about trying out.







The sages shown are Salvia patens 'Cambridge Blue', Salvia nemorosa 'rosenwein', Salvia madrensis, Salvia greggii 'Annie', Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara' (a more compact variety of Mexican Bush Sage), Salvia greggii 'Sierra San Antonio', Salvia 'Bee's Bliss', and Salvia 'Allen Chickering'.

The size of Salvias varries quite a bit from variety to variety, from 12"-18" groundcover types all the way up 6'-7' tall. Make sure to check how large the specific variety will grow to be so that you can plant it where it has room to reach maturity. Also, some of them have quite lush deep green foliage, like Salvia 'Black and Blue' (left), while others are very grey-green like Salvia cahuilensis (right) :



Interested in a colorful flower garden of your own? We'd love to help! Please go to www.sageoutdoordesigns.com and fill in the contact us form. Sage Outdoor Designs is a San Diego landscape design firm. Our Principal, Kate Wiseman, has been a San Diego landscape designer for the past ten years- ask how she can help transform your garden into the one you always wanted.

3 comments:

  1. Hey, isn't that my Salvia coahuilensis on your blog?

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  2. Oops, forgot to mention that Salvia coahuilensis has very lush, almost lettuce-green leaves, which is quite surprising for such a xeric plant. It's not grey at all, in contrast to the Artemisia versicolor next to it in the photo above, of my garden. For salvias with more gray in their leaves, think about Salvia leucantha (that you have above) but even more silvery are Salvia argentea (argentea = silver), Salvia apiana (white sage - which is a native of southern California where you are), Salvia daghestanica, salvia pachyphylla, salvia dorii...

    Forest

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  3. I pull my images off google image search but I'd be happy to give credit to your photo, Forest. What is your last name?

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