How to grow: Salvia confertiflora (Filed: 27/10/2001)
Rory Dusoir on a flower that displays a combination of colours that are dramatic but not garish
Where to buy
Good companions
Growing tips
THERE are a number of salvias from the New World that fit nicely into the exotic, late-flowering niche. Salvia confertiflora is exciting. The inflorescence - there can be up to a dozen on a single plant - is a narrow spire about 2ft tall. The many small flowers are held close to the stem, and are a brickish red, similar to that of the scarlet pimpernel.
But that is only half the story - the calyces of each flower and the flower stems, themselves, are an extraordinary dark, fuzzy crimson. The combination of colours manages to look dramatic but not garish.
This effort is supported by foliage that is quite bold in itself, dark green and corrugated. S. confertiflora is shrubby, but quite tender. It can be grown annually from cuttings, as these will flower in their first year. But the display from two-year-old plants will be much more impressive and will start earlier (by mid-August), so it pays to over-winter them in a greenhouse.
Salvia 'Indigo Spires' is similar in style to confertiflora, and looks good in combination with it. The flowers, stem and calyces are all a rich dark blue.
'Indigo' is an apt description. Accuracy where colours are concerned is rare in plant names.
Dark blue is a strong point with salvias, and the tuberous-rooted S. patens has the most intense colouring of any. Its hooded flowers are large and striking, even singly. It can be grown annually from seed - you can collect your own. But you will get a beefier, longer-lasting display from tubers that you have over-wintered.
Variant colour forms exist: 'Chilcombe' - mauve; 'Cambridge Blue' - a pale blue; and a white one 'White Trophy'. They all come true from seed but none is as effective as the type.
The low, sprawling Salvia cacaliifolia is also dark blue and worth growing. Its flowers are small by comparison, but numerous, in an extremely vigorous and long-lasting display, from July to November. The leaves are neatly arrow-shaped and glossy.
Salvia involucrata, including 'Hadspen' extends the colour range to pink - a vivid magenta. There is a form, 'Bethelii', which grows upright with support and has quite fine, if not particularly distinctive, leaves.
Other forms are incorrigible sprawlers, with larger flowers and foliage that is fatter and coarser - features that add ebullience to the performance. Its spreading habit should not be a problem, if you can give it a bit of space. Mature plants will flower from July to November and are fairly hardy.
Then there is Salvia leucantha, with its extraordinary fuzzy, bright purple calyces and little white flowers. Not hardy, but very striking and completely original. It is worth making an extra effort for plants of this sort.
Where to buy
Buy salvias at: Pleasant View Nursery, Two Mile Oak, nr Denbury, Newton Abbot, Devon (01803 813388); Ashwood Nurseries, Kingswinford, West Midlands (01384 401996; www.ashwood-nurseries.co.uk).
Good companions
These late-flowering salvias make good partners for dahlias, cannas, rudbeckias, asters and chrysanthemums. Also consider combining them with plants that have good autumn leaf colour. The blend of S. involucrata with the almost lurid, autumn-leaf colouring of Euonymus alatus in New York botanical gardens has people in raptures.
S. leucantha makes a particularly good specimen pot plant.
Growing tips
All of these salvias can be grown without fuss, as long as they are in full sun and reasonably well-drained soil. They enjoy generous irrigation during the growing season, but good drainage will increase the hardiness of any plant that you intend to over-winter in open ground. Hardiness is the main issue.
S. involucrata is one of the toughest and survives mild winters in the South without protection. S. patens also occasionally pulls through. But the rest are definitely tender.
It is simple to maintain them by taking soft, tip cuttings in August or September, over-wintering them under glass and potting them up individually in March. If you have enough space in your greenhouse, it is worth keeping older plants, as these put on a better show. Dig them up after the first frost, pot them up and keep them above freezing all winter. S. patens' dormant tubers can probably be kept in a cool, dark place, such as a frost-free shed or cellar, thus saving on precious greenhouse space.
Once you have over-wintered your salvias, plant
them out in mid-May, or any time thereafter. They
will need protecting from slugs in the early stages,
especially S. patens. Capsid bugs are also a problem
occasionally. The insects themselves are hard to
spot, but you'll know you have a problem if the
young leaves are left twisted and marked with small
holes at growing points. Spray with a systemic
insecticide at the first sign of damage. One or two
sprays a season should see them off.
-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001