salvias in autumn

Savia madrense

Salvias at Montville, South East Queensland

Versatility with vigour

Ornamental perennial salvias are favourites in our garden but are not as widely used as they could be. Our collection has grown through the cuttings trade with fellow gardeners, church fete acquisitions and from “Ja’s Herb farm” at Mapleton which, sadly, has closed down.

Over the last 6 months it has rained or showered almost every day and it has been quite dark and spooky under the cloud cover in our mountain top location. In spite of the weather challenge our collection of ornamental salvias injects cheerful colour throughout the garden.

One of the first salvias we acquired, which happily self seeds throughout is Salvia coccinea bicolour. In contrast to this quite low growing pink and white plant Salvia coccinea has taller bright red and a pure white variety which are useful donor plants. We don’t do well at all with Salvia greggii but other smaller flowered salvias such as Salvia “Sweet Laura”, the pineapple sage Salvia elegans have thrived in sun or shade in our conditions. The crushed foliage of the latter makes it an ideal edge of garden plant with herbs like Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis and Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare.

Tall growing plants such as Salvia iodantha, S.involucrata, S.madrense and varieties such as Salvia involucrata “pink icicles”, Salvia x hybrid “Waverley” have been reliable bedding plants and provide spectacular colour and form even in low light. They stand out like the Justicia carnea and Pachystachys lutea from a long way off.

Some plants in our garden, while not actually salvias, stand next to established salvias very successfully so that they enhance each other. Plectranthus ecklonii in blue, white or as “Hawthorne pink” variety and Plectranthus saccatus have salvia like flowers in late summer, are tall and go beautifully with drifts of Salvia guaranitica or Salvia uliginosa. The mauve flowers of Hypoestes aristata, the Plectranthus “Mona Lavender” hybrids and the cloud of white flowers on Iboza syn.Tetradenia riparia complement Salvia Mexicana. Orthosiphon stamineus (Cat’s whiskers) in white compliments Salvia confertifolia with it’s strong orange/red flower spikes.

Throughout our garden Salvia splendens in white, variegated white and red, or, white and mauve are extremely reliable and quite tall in our climate. Salvia “Van Houteii” and Salvia “Purple Majesty” are also very reliable and in keeping with almost all of our plants strike easily from cutting to be shared around.

One of our favourite salvias Salvia miniata has bright red flowers contrasting dramatically with the perfect blue flowers of sticky Salvia macrophylla. Another better known plant is Salvia leucantha and the variety S.leucantha “White velour”. Of course not everything in the garden is perfect and unfortunately we lost Salvia discolor , Salvia “Huntington red” and Salvia sclarea in the unceasing rain.

However, there are other interesting “salvia like” plants which can be rewarding in our climate by having the free flowering and forgiving nature of salvias and being easy to strike from cutting. These include Pycnostachys urticifolia, Lepachina salviae , Brillantasia subulugurica and the lovely lemon scented verbena, Aloysia triphylla.

Our salvia collection has been grouped to show off the salvias together but is not separate. The salvias work beautifully to create a colourful foil to our collections of Abutilons, old fashioned roses, our buddlejas, gardenias and large collections of shade loving subtropical plants including the Begonias. They also provide reliable colour in semi-shaded positions under our collections of trees.

Our salvias along with the rest of our plant collection can be read on our website www.montvillegarden.com and is discussed on our blog http://montvillegarden.blogspot.com .

The 1875 Brisbane Botanic Gardens Catalogue mentions Salvia azurea, S. coccinea, S. officinalis, S. patens, S. plebia, S. pratensis, S. afracanus and S. splendens. Brisbane’s 1885 Botanic and Acclimatization garden’s catalogue included Salvia azurea, S.coccinea, S.fulgens, S.hoveyi, S.officinalis, S.patens and S.splendens. Many of the other perennial Salvias in our garden, despite their old fashioned appearence were not mentioned in 19^th century catalogues and according to Clebsch (2003) some may not have been widely available to gardeners until the 1980s. Accordingly the 1962 Brisbane Botanical gardens Catalogue only records Salvia argentea, S. azurea, S. farinacea, S involucrata, S. leucantha, S. patens and Salvia splendens as well as S. splendens variegated.

We have a collectors garden around a century old cottage and in spite of their lack of ‘heritage’ credentials the many ornamental salvias display perfectly as traditional colourful garden plants in that setting.

They remain uncommon and sometimes expensive in Queensland retail nurseries which seems unfortunate. Salvias of many kinds are a wonderful easy care addition to modern gardens but have a particular charm in a busy crowded traditional garden especially where there is shade.

Dr Michael Simpson