Salvia...
         Sage...
                    Essential...

If you don’t have at least one form of salvia in your garden, then you are missing a bet. No other family of flowers blooms more easily, requires less care, and satisfies the gardener better than the salvias.

Salvia is the Latin genus name for a large family of both ornamental and culinary and medicinal plants. Salvia officinalis is the name of common garden sage that appears in your Thanksgiving dressing and sausages around the world. It is also an ancient herb that has been used for sore throats, coughs and lots of other ailments.

The name “sage” is sometimes confusing because people use this common name to mean the culinary plant, the ornamental plants and also other unrelated plants like Cenizo, which is often called Texas sage. Riders of the Purple Sage weren’t talking about sage at all! Another common garden plant, Russian Sage, isn’t a salvia either. It’s botanical name is Perovskia atriplicifolia.

Culinary Sages

Known most often simply as “sage,” Salvia officinalis comes in several varieties: tricolor, Berggarten, purple, golden and many others that describe difference in leaf color and shape. Slight difference in taste may occur from variety to variety, but they can be used interchangeably in recipes. You may also find that one variety does better in your garden than another, so experiment with several varieties.

Culinary sage blooms profusely in the spring, generally offering light purple flowers. Once the flowers have bloomed, they should be removed from the plant. The flowers are edible and make attractive decorations on plates and in salads. The leaves, however, are the primary source of flavor in this plant.

Sage is a common ingredient in sausages and goes well with meats and cheeses. Soups and stews also benefit from the pungent flavor of the herb. Be careful not to use too much sage in your cooking because the flavor is strong. Begin with a small amount and add until you are satisfied with the taste.

Historically S. officinalis has been an important addition to the medicinal arsenal. The Chinese valued it as a tea to heal sore throats and as an aid to digestion. Sage is now being examined closely for the value of the natural estrogens it contains and the possibility that it may help with some symptoms of menopause, hot flashes in particular. Sage tea is made by steeping one teaspoon of dried S. officinalis (any color) or 2 teaspoons fresh in one cup of hot water for about 10 minutes.

Ornamental Sages

Many gardeners first become away of salvias in the brightly colored six packs of annuals that are available in early spring. These tropical imports are Salvia splendens and come in a wide variety of color. They add instant brightness to any sunny garden. These flowers are annuals and as such will only last one season, but they are easy to grow and look nice in your flower beds.

Salvia faranacea, also known as Victoria Sage or Mealy Sage, is a tender perennial that will repeat year after year in the southern part of the state. These blue or white flowers grow along the roadside in Central Texas and also grace gardens. Their size is moderate and they won’t take up a lot of space in your flower beds.

The perennials are the workhorses of the garden. Easily perennial in Zone 8, they also grow well in cooler climates with mulching and a little attention. In cooler areas, the salvias can take even more sun.

Indigo Spires Salvia (S. farinacea x longispica) is, as you can guess from the Latin an offshoot of Salvia faranacea with long spikes! This gorgeous shrubby plant will grow to four feet with long wands of bluish purple flowers that are a perfect backdrop for other plants. They look especially nice with the grey artemisias. You can cut the flower wands to add to arrangements and they look lovely. Once established, Indigo Spires will continue to grow in your garden year after year. They die down in the winter, only to come back with renewed vigor. Hummingbirds like them as well as people do.

Mexican Bush Sage (S. Leucantha) is another favorite of gardeners because it comes into its glory in the fall. It has spikes of velvety flowers of purple and white. They usually reach about five feet tall. The plant grows broader each year, but it doesn’t need dividing. Shearing in early summer will encourage sturdy growth.

Salvia greggii (AKA Cherry Sage, Autumn Sage, Gregg’s Sage) comes in many colors and many varieties. This shrubby plant is easy to grow and will add color in both sun and partly shady spots. It will grow two to three feet tall and can be easily maintained to fit your garden spot. Cut it back in the winter and mid-summer to keep the plant shapely and to encourage blooms. Colors range from white through pink, red, orange and purples.

Pineapple Sage (S. elegans) provides bright red flowers and wonderfully fragrant foliage that smells just like pineapple and is reliably perennial in Zone 7. The wonderful aroma is just that — there is no taste involved, but these are great for cutting and bringing inside for the scent. The flowers can be used as decorative culinary garnish.

Majestic Sage (S. guaranitica) is a tall, stately plant. The deep cobalt blue flowers are intense and beautiful. The vivid flowers grow on a plant that can reach 4 feet in height, depending on where it grows. It blooms from May until frost and provides a great back-of-the-border plant. It is a good companion for almost any other plant of almost any color. I like it with bright pink verbena and orange crocosmia.

Scarlet Sage (S. coccinea) is not always scarlet. You can find this plant in red, white or salmon varieties. Often growing in a partially shady area, this plant is drought-hardy and will reseed easily. Mulch in colder areas will help protect it from the cold. It can be used as a groundcover and trimmed with a line-trimmer when it gets taller than you want. Trimming will make it bushier. Too much fertilizer and water can turn this beautiful flowering plant into a pushy green non-bloomer, so put it in your xeriscape garden and enjoy its beauty in both Spring and Fall.

Pitcher Sage (S. Azurea var grandiflora) grows 1-3 feet tall and can reach 6 feet in some areas. It is a tough prairie flower that can take harsh conditions. It takes water to get its roots established, but then it is drought tolerant and easy to grow from seed. Native to Texas, it is cold-hardy in most areas, easy to grow and generous with blooms in the fall that give it another common name — Sky Blue Sage.

Engelmann Sage (S. engelmannii) is a Texas native that makes a compact mound of pale blue/purple flowers. The plants rarely grow more than 1 1/2 feet tall and about one foot wide. This dwarf blue sage will fill niches in your garden where larger plants won’t fit. It blooms in the spring and forms a rosette that lasts through the winter.

Another small salvia is Cedar Sage (S. Roemeriana). This is a fine flower for a shady spot. The plant is small and well-behaved and will be attractive both in and out of bloom. The little round leaves are scalloped on the edges. Bright red flowers emerge above the foliage. This plant makes a great ground cover. It’s common name comes from its ability to thrive in the dense shade of the Hill Country junipers, commonly known as “cedars.” It grows about a foot tall and the flowers bloom from March to August.

Some exotic varieties have been introduced into Texas and are not widely known, but are of interest to plant collectors. Moorcroft sage (S. moorcroftiana) is native to the Himalayas. Surprisingly, it grows well in the hot, moist conditions of Texas. The white and blue flowers appear in the Spring and the huge, woolly gray-green leaves are evergreen.

An Iranian variety, S. forskahlei, blooms heavily in blue-violet and white in the spring. It reseeds easily. The gray-green leaves are evergreen. Both of these exotic salvias will fare better if they are given afternoon shade.

Like most plants, salvias will flourish if your soil is alive with microbial activity, so instead of fertilizing, add compost, compost tea, soil activator, or mulch to add organic matter and life to the soil.

All salvias are water-thrifty. The easiest way to kill these plants is to over-water or plant them in soil that does not drain well. Given that requirement, they are otherwise very easy to grow. They can take sun or afternoon shade. They will do well in any kind of soil. Actually, highly fertile soil will encourage leaf production rather than flower bloom. Put them on a lean diet to encourage lots of flowers.

And flowers are what salvias are all about. They are beautiful in and of themselves. They look great added to informal arrangements that contain many different flowers or a single majestic stalk will look good in a bud vase.

Butterflies like the flowers, but hummingbirds go wild for them. Look at the profile of the flower and the profile of the bird. They are perfectly matched. The beak of the bird fits into the throat of the flower as if they were made to go together — which I assume they were.

Common wisdom is that hummingbirds prefer red flowers, and there are plenty of red salvias to keep them happy, but experience has shown that they seem to love blue flowers just as much and some studies show that they actually prefer them. So whichever color you choose, you can bet if there is a hummingbird in the neighborhood, he or she will be having lunch at your house.

Salvias should be pruned after flowering or pruned for shape as needed. Some plants will die to the ground in the winter, but will come back strong in the spring. Leave the dead plants in place until the new plants start growing. This will remind you that plants are growing there and provide winter cover for beneficial insects.

Salvias can be grown in containers as well as in the ground. Choose your container based on the ultimate size of the plant. A large-grower needs a big pot to begin with. You can combine varieties for interest in big pots or half-whiskey barrels.

Salvias are susceptible to humidity and can sometimes melt in the heat and humidity of Texas summers. This is particularly a problem with the culinary sages that grow low to the ground. If you have that problem, you can try mulching with small pebbles or other material to keep moisture off the leaves of low-growing plants. Water in the morning so that the plant can dry thoroughly during the day.