Which Salvia Is Best For You?

Over one thousand different kinds of salvia occur naturally in the wild, and many more cultivars and varieties have been bred for garden use. So there's heaps of choice for you.

They originate from the temperate climates of Mediterranean Europe, the tropical climates of central and South America, and the harsher extremes of central Asia and northern America.
Salvia has learned to adapt to a wide range of climates.

The one most of us are familiar with is Salvia officinalis, the soft edible green-grey aromatic sage, used for stuffing and flavouring meats and stews.
But as you can see, there's far more to this lovely plant family than a Sunday roast!

Salvias can grow as annuals - growing, flowering and dying on one year; as herbaceous perennials, dying back in winter cold and regrowing in spring; and even as woody shrubs.

Our salvia varieties are herbaceous perennials; they'll keep their leaves in a mild winter, and they do all their growing and flowering from spring to late autumn.

Some salvias have long tapering spires of flowers, densely packed; others are more rounded in outline, with flowers dotted all over the bush.

Some salvias have scented foliage - plant them in a warm sheltered spot and when the sun shines, the essential oils in the plant's leaves will warm up and perfume the air with fruity smells!

With the fragrant foliage and the buzzing of native bees and beneficial pollinators feeding on the nectar, salvias are a fantastic choice for sensory gardens.

African Sky

African Sky is a pretty, airy, two-tone salvia with flowers in summer-sky-blue and winter-sky-blue.

It's a really reliable bloomer, flowering from tubestock size for quick results, and growing tall enough at around 75cm to make an impact in a mixed flower border but not so tall it overpowers other plants.

The stems are slender too, so it threads its way through neighbouring plants to create an effortless cottage garden.

Mesa Azure

More of a gentle lilac-lavender than a true blue, Mesa Azure looks like a dainty little thing but like many salvias is tough as, coping with sun and heat and dry spells like a boss.

It's a greggii, or Mexican sage, variety; petite at less than a metre around, with small neat leaves and a distinctive pouty bottom lip. You can see more of these in the red and pink section below.

Costa Rica

Any shade of blue is a rarity in the natural world; blue flowers are particularly scarce and much loved. So a pure cobalt blue flower is quite the prize - and it's true blue too!

Costa Rica is a rich deep blue, lapis lazuli blue, summer sky on a sunny day blue. Costa Rica is a metre-high variety of Salvia guaranitica, the anise sage, smelling deliciously of aniseed when you brush against the leaves. It's a big hit with beneficial pollinators too!

Plant it somewhere warm and sheltered; it doesn't like frost; and give it a chop back in summer to encourage a second flush of flowers.

Marine Blue

One of our most popular flowering sages, Marine Blue is evergreen in frost-free climates, and flowers for months on end. Beneficial insects love this variety too, so it's a great one for wildlife friendly patches.

The stems are tall and straight, rising above the leaves, and the flowers are densely packed from top to bottom.

It's a neat compact size when full-grown, ideal for even the smallest of back yards, and planting in patio pots.

Mystic Spires

Dark and upright, Mystic Spires rivals Marine Blue for popularity, and for flower-power too! with stems up to 30cm long packed with pollinator-friendly petals of nectar, no wonder this one gets the wildlife seal of approval.

Even when the petals fall, the plants still look colourful as the calyces (the bits that join them to the stems) are deep purple-blue and stay on the plant.

Feed this one in spring before flowering and autumn too; mulch it in winter to keep the roots snug and warm; and chop it back after the first flowering period to encourage more fresh new growth.

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is one of a new range of flowering sages named for famous lakes of the world. Siberian Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, and the navy-and-black flower echoes its icy depths. The Lake series salvias have been bred to give vigorous fast-growing plants with strong flowering stems.

They're cultivars of the South American anise or aniseed-scented sages, Salvia guaranitica, also known as hummingbird sage; they're popular with all kinds of birds and bees and beneficial pollinators, perfect for wildlife-friendly outdoor spaces.

The two species are so similar that they often hybridise naturally in the wild, as they grow alongside each other in southern USA and Mexico.

Mexican flowering sages are sometimes known as autumn sages, as they have such a long flowering season from summer right until first frosts.

As you'd expect from their wild origins, they love warmth and sunshine and thrive at the front of a flower border where they can soften the hard edges and tumble onto the grass or path in front.

They're drought tolerant and can grow in poor soils, but feed and water them and you'll notice the difference in display. A light clip after the first wave of flowers will encourage another wave of flowering stems late into the year.

baby sage

Effortless fast-growing colour is yours, when you plant baby sage. This is a naturally occurring species form which means the flower colour can be variable, from soft coral-pink through to almost vermilion-red.

The leaves and flowers are small and dainty, so it never overwhelms other plants in the flowerbed.

Perfect for sunny garden borders, exuberant hanging baskets, and patio pots

Margaret Arnold

Somewhere between scarlet, hot pink, barbie pink, and glowing coral, Margaret Arnold keeps you guessing as to what outfit she'll wear each day!

Like all microphylla salvias, she's a good doer, reliable and easy to look after, and loves a sunny spot to shine in.

She's a long-legged beauty too, taller and wider than most baby sages, easily reaching chest-high once established.

Huntington Red

If you don't like a colour surprise, Huntington Red is reliably always-red, and a vibrant shade of it too, to brighten your borders and balconies.

This one is a third smaller than its sibling Margaret Arnold, at about a metre all-around, so it slips into a cottage garden flower bed or even a large planter with ease.

Crimson & Black

Crimson & Black was one of the earliest red-black selections or varieties of greggii salvias; and knowing how many there are and how easily greggi and microphylla salvias naturally hybridise with each other without human intervention, you can be sure this one has stood the test of time.

It's petite, cheerful, full of colour without being overpowering, and ideal for relaxed cottage gardens and gardeners who prefer a more natural look.

Hot Lips

This one is such a favourite, maybe because it has an Award of Garden Merit, maybe because it's so easy to identify and remember! The pouty little flowers Hot Lips are bright red below, clean white above, for a striking contrast.

Because it's a microphylla or baby sage variety, it's not always that clear cut... Sometimes occasional flowers pop out all red, or all white, or with some of their lipstick misapplied! But it's all charming, whatever the variations; and because Hot Lips pumps those flowers out right through the warmer months, and is so easy going to look after, all is forgiven.

Tequila

Big bold showy Tequila is a variety of Salvia gesneriiflora, a grapefruit-scented Mexican species that can get over 7m high in its native mountain home!

Fortunately, Tequila is a much smaller shrub - but still reaching well over head high for an explosion of vibrant colour.

The parent species is also only two colours : orange-red long tubular flowers, and light apple-green leaves and calyces (this bits that attach the petals to the stems). Bor-ing! Tequila says "hold my beer" and gives us brighter vermilion-red long flowers, and jet black calyces, which glow with colour against the soft lime green leaves.

The parent plant also blooms from late winter through spring, where we find out nursery Tequilas flowering right through the warmer months. If they get a bit too exuberant, chop them back after flowering and they'll get the party started all over again until the frosts come.

Mirage Rose

Much more reliable is new bicolour variety Mirage Rose , with cream pouty bottom lip and hot pink above. It's a tiny greggii cultivar, 30cm or so high, cute as a button, packed with flower colour, and perfectly sized for hanging baskets, window boxes, edging a path, or other garden spaces where space is tight.

The Mirage® range of salvias flowering from early spring right through to late summer/early autumn. They're heat and frost tolerant, pollinator-friendly, bushy and low maintenance, and deer resistant - though no trials yet on their kangaroo appeal...

Merlot

Beautifully bright, Merlot's purple-black calyces pop open into vibrant magenta-purple flowers, each with that distinctive greggii pouty lip.

In full sun the colour warms up to a deep rose-pink; and in shade takes on a cooler cranberry tone, which looks gorgeous planted with purple flowers.

Mulberry Jam

At about chest high, Salvia involucrata Mulberry Jam is much shorter than its parent species, the roseleaf sage. That makes it the perfect height to plant in cottage garden flowerbeds - tall enough for back-of-border presence, small and slim enough to not make a nuisance of itself by overpowering other plants.

Mature flowers develop dense flowerheads of tubular flowers, which flare open at the very tips. The tubular flowers cluster together at the end of each stem, before they open, forming a pine-cone effect.

Find it a warm sunny sheltered frost-free spot in good soil, and feed and water it regularly, and your Mulberry jam will grow fast and thrive.

After the early summer flowers, cut it back and it will regrow for a second wave of autumn colour.

Lake Garda

Lake Garda is one of a new range of flowering sages named for famous lakes of the world. Lake Garda is in super-stylish Italy, hance the unusual fashion-forward colour combo of cool magenta pink and warm plum. The Lake series salvias have been bred to give vigorous fast-growing plants with strong flowering stems. The photos on the product page are of tubestock plants so you can see you'll get colourful results, prestissimo!

They're cultivars of the South American anise or aniseed-scented sages, Salvia guaranitica, also known as hummingbird sage. It's not just hummingbirds that appreciate these beautiful blooms - butterflies, bees, and nectivorous mammals will visit for a feed.

Grandstand Purple

One of the newest flowering sages in our range, and already becoming one of the most popular Grandstand Purple has intensely dark, almost black stems and calyces (the parts that cover the petals). So it's super colourful from the whistle.

Then as the flowering stems grow taller, the petals emerge, their warm magenta pink singing out against the darker purple.

Grandstand salvias are varieties of Salvia splendens, a Brazilian species, so they'll thrive in warm humid sunny places. If you get frost, grow it as an annual, or in a pot where you can shelter it over winter. The parent species has been used to develop lots of flowering sages, all really popular in gardens worldwide.

Grandstands are fast to flower so you'll get quick results when you plant them; and at around half a metre they hit that sweet spot of big enough to be showy, and small enough to fit in anywhere in the garden, or patio, or balcony.

Baby sage, Salvia microphylla is also known by the common name of blackcurrant sage.

On a warm day the scent of ripe blackcurrants fills the air.

Choose our baby sage variety, Huntington Red, Margaret Arnold, Crimson & Black, and Hot Lips.

The rare black sage below, Salvia discolor also gives off a blackcurrant fragrance, to match its black flowers.

Plant your scented salvias in a sheltered spot, where the essential oils will warm up in the sun; and maybe somewhere where you can brush against them as you walk, to release all those lovely smells onto the breeze.

Rare Salvias

Garden salvias flower mostly in shades of blue-purple, or red-pink - but not all flower in these shades. If you're a lover of rare and unusual plants, salvias have got a lot to offer!

black sage

No filters and AI here! That is the dinki-di genuine flower colour of Salvia discolor, the black sage , taken in our nursery. True black is super-rare in nature, which is why these flowering sages always have a waiting list of die-hard fans ready to pounce when the plants come back into stock

These herbaceous perennials occur in the wild in a tiny area of Peru, where they scramble up taller shrubs and give off a delicious scent of blackcurrants. Well, it wasn't going to be strawberries with that flower colour!

The silvery-green calyces (the bits that hold the flowers onto the stems) are a great contrast to the dark petals. These dramatic flowering sages look fantastic planted with other silver-leaved plants and with dark-leaved plants too - like black mondo grass.

Pumpkin

Mexican sages, greggii, usually flower in shades of red-pink-coral. Mexican sage Pumpkin clearly didn't get that memo, as it marches to the beat of its own soft peach-gold drum.

We're happy it's going it's own way, as the flower colour is so unusual and so gentle. It blends effortlessly with white and cream, with warm pinks and corals, with copper and chestnut coloured foliages, and with dark purple-maroon leaved plants.

And at less than a metre high, it's easy to find a space for in your flower beds.

sand sage

We are big fans of this shrubby sage at Australian Plants Online. Salvia lanceolata, sand sage blooms enthusiastically in soft earth tones of sand, ochre, cream, buff, reminding us of a high end make up store's blush and contour palettes.

It's an unusual flower colour in nature, and a beautiful range of shades to complement pinks and yellows, or warm-toned purples and browns.

Sand sages are only found in the wild in a tiny part of the tip of South Africa, where they grow in sandy coastal soils.
Thanks to their lovely colouring, long flowering season, compact metre-around size, and lemon pepper scent, they're getting a wider fan club among gardeners across the globe.

Golden Fountain

Golden Fountain is a cultivar of the naturally occurring flowering sage Salvia madrensis, the forsythia sage.
(If you're not familiar with forsythia, it's a cold-climate winter-flowering shrub with astonishingly bright golden yellow flowers covering the bare branches.)

Forsythia sages are found in the wild in the mild, moist Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico, where they can reach far over head high, with lush leaves and 30cm long flower spikes.

Yellow is a highly unusual colour in the salvia world, so this huge all-over-yellow flowering sage is a connoisseur's prize indeed - and a dramatic fountain of golden colour in your garden, even if you have no idea how rare and unusual it is!

 

We hope this has encouraged you to find space for salvias in your garden - there's a colour, size, and scent for everyone!