It brings hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies to gardens. It loves full sun and has stunning coral and white trumpet flowers. Coral nymph salvia (Salvia coccinea ‘coral nymph’) is an easy-growing, bushy annual that reaches heights between 2-3 feet. Make sure to plant in an area with well-draining soil that receives full sun. Lanceleaf sage (Salvia reflexa), also known as Rocky Mountain sage, is an annual variety of salvia. Silver sage (Salvia argentea) looks stunning when grown in containers, flower beds, or borders.
Gentian Sage
Purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) is a fast-growing evergreen shrub. Not only is Greek sage an excellent pollinator plant, but it also has medicinal and culinary uses. Adorned with red two-lipped flowers, golden delicious is adored by hummingbirds and butterflies. Golden delicious (Salvia rutilans) is a sister plant to the pineapple salvia plant. Blooming in spring, Chinese sage is deer-resistant.
Ornamental sages are showstoppers in the garden. The Salvia genus offers a diverse array of plants, each with its own charm and uses. Sage plants come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, each with its own characteristics and care requirements.
- Although it’s a perennial, you’ll want to replace the plants after a few years when the stems become woody and sparse.
- These vigorous plants bear lance-shaped leaves and many spikes of purplish-blue blooms.
- Commonly called scarlet sage, this plant flowers all summer long and is great for containers.
- Deadheading is important to encourage repeat blooming.
If your garden doesn’t offer these conditions, don’t worry—sage grows beautifully in containers too. If you’re using nursery plants, wait until the frost danger has passed before setting them out. Timing is key when it comes to planting sage. Explore our diverse selection to find the perfect sage for your garden. Some salvias, like White Sage (S. apiana), serve both culinary and ornamental purposes.
What to plant with salvias?
Wispy scarlet flowers bloom from late summer to mid-fall. In addition to the popular salvia species and their cultivars, there are also hybrid salvias, such as Salvia x sylvestris, commonly known as wood sage. Many gardeners deadhead the spent flowers (or trim them with pruning shears), but they sometimes bloom throughout the summer even without deadheading. Mealycup sage has an even longer bloom period than red salvia, producing flowers from May until frost.
Variegated Sage
Salvia mexicana ‘Limelight’ is also known as Mexican sage. While slugs and snails can be problematic for silver sage, it does not have any substantial issues with disease or other pests. Its beautiful aroma attracts birds, butterflies, and moths. It thrives in full sun and well-drained soil.
Easy-to-Grow Perennial Flowers for Beginners
Remove the lower leaves and trim each cutting just below a node (a node is where a leaf emerges from a stem). Many varieties (typically those with light-colored flowers) will also do well in part-shade, but flowering will be reduced. Salvias of all types can be grown in containers, too. They grow 18 inches to 5 feet tall, depending on the variety.
Native to China and Japan, Chinese sage is used as a medicinal sage. It attracts birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds and it is easy to care for. salvia trip explained It is drought-tolerant, making it an easy plant to care for. Before growing it, always check your state laws.
The lever of most Salvia species is not specialized for a single pollinator, but is generic and selected to be easily released by many bird and bee pollinators of varying shapes and sizes. In older, female stage flowers, the stigma is bent down in a general location that corresponds to where the pollen was deposited on the pollinator’s body. It is central to any investigation into the systematics, species distribution, or pollination biology of Salvia.
Pineapple Sage
Some salvias are considered annuals and others perennials. This fast-growing, evergreen shrub is a popular garden plant in the Southwest. ‘Evolution’ has a long blooming season and is a perfect choice for meadow or cottage-style gardens, planted in containers, window boxes, beds and borders. With fragrant flowers and foliage, as well as salt tolerance, it’s a great choice for diverse garden settings. One of the best salvias for your garden; works wonderfully in heat and humidity.
- Its white flowers and leaflike bracts below them are pinkish or violet-flushed.
- Purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) is a fast-growing evergreen shrub.
- Before growing it, always check your state laws.
- There are a variety of reasons salvias flop, including too much water, from rain or irrigation, not enough sun, or too much fertilizer.
- Does not set seed, so continues to bloom all season.
- If your salvia plant has become leggy and flopped over you can either provide support for the plant with stakes or deadhead the flowers and let new ones grow in.
Growing and Maintaining Sage
Use this compact variety in containers, mass plantings or borders. Rockin’® Deep Purple (Salvia hybrid) brings depth and drama to any garden or landscape. Easy to care for, drought-tolerant, and resistant to deer, it’s a reliable and hassle-free addition to any garden or landscape. It will just bloom, and bloom and bloom all season without stopping. For shrub types, remove dead, diseased or damaged branches, cut back the entire plant by a third to half of its size, and shape as needed.
It’s wonderfully heat- and drought-tolerant, bearing clusters of lavender-purple flowers all summer over evergreen silvery foliage. Native to California, giant purple desert sage (Salvia pachyphylla) is rarely grown in gardens, although it deserves to be. For added contrast, plant this salvia with the daisy-shaped flowers of ‘Pixie Meadowbrite’ purple coneflower. This sage bears all the great attributes of its sister pineapple salvia plant but notches up the impact with its bright golden-chartreuse foliage. Grown as an annual in cool-season climates, pineapple sage (Salvia elegans ‘Pineapple’) is a perennial in warm-winter regions where it blooms from winter to spring.
Use this guide to find the best salvia plants for growing in your garden. Yugoslavian cut leaf sage (Salvia jurisicii) has beautiful feathery foliage with blue-purple flowers. While it has attractive purple flowers, the plants don’t bloom readily, and the stalks are prone to breaking. Like other salvias, autumn sage will attract bees and butterflies to your garden. These vigorous plants bear lance-shaped leaves and many spikes of purplish-blue blooms. A familiar plant, red sage (Salvia spendens), also known simply as red salvia, is technically a tropical perennial, but it’s more commonly grown as an annual.
Types of Salvia Plants
Enjoy vibrant blue flowers all summer with this award-winning plant. Dark pink flowers on darker pink calyces start blooming in late spring and continue through summer. Flower spikes bloom in shades of blue, dark purple, lavender, red, pink, white and a rare yellow. Discovered in Australia, ‘Wendy’s Wish’ (Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’) shows off bright pink-purple flowers from late spring to early fall. In addition, blue sage is a perfect planting partner for purple-leafed shrubs like ‘Summer Wine’ ninebark. One of the longest-blooming salvia plants is ‘Raspberry Delight’ (Salvia greggii ‘Raspberry Delight’).
Although it’s a perennial, you’ll want to replace the plants after a few years when the stems become woody and sparse. The bracts on this summer-blooming biennial salvia are long-lasting and dry well, making it a good cut flower and useful in dried-flower crafts. Clary sage (Salvia sclarea) is a little different because its color comes from its leafy bracts that look like big pink, purple, or white flower petals. It flowers profusely all summer, from late spring to frost, and tolerates periods of drought. Our guide profiles the prettiest salvias to grow in gardens. Mystic spires blue salvia (Salvia longispicata x farinacea ‘Mystic Spires Blue’) grows up to 3 feet in height, with spikes of blue flowers (hence its name).
Planting Salvia
The ornamental species are commonly referred to by their genus name Salvia. When used without modifiers, the name «sage» generally refers to Salvia officinalis («common sage» or «culinary sage»), although it is used with modifiers to refer to any member of the genus. One of several genera commonly referred to as sage, it includes two widely used herbs, Salvia officinalis (common sage, or just «sage») and Salvia rosmarinus (rosemary, formerly Rosmarinus officinalis).