Sage advice
To locate images associated with this article please visit our
image collection at Country, Farm and Garden Photo Library
If the only time you think of sage is when it’s time to make poultry stuffing, then you’re missing out on a lot of top class garden plants.
Encompassing some 900 species of annuals, biennials, perennials, subshrubs and shrubs and many garden hybrids, there’s certainly far more to the genus Salvia than just the culinary herb (S. officinalis). They’re a widespread bunch too, covering most of the world.
Salvias are part of the mint family, which accounts for the pungent oils found in many species, and have had a long history of herbal and culinary use. Indeed, the name salvia is derived from the Latin salvus, meaning to save, cure or be well (as in salvation), and refers to the healing and styptic properties of S. officinalis and the benefits to the digestion of clary sage (S. sclarea). These properties, recorded as early as 200 BC, were highly regarded in early Europe. The Emperor Charlemagne decreed sage to be a mandatory plant for all gardens within his domain.
Although most of the common culinary and herbal species are European natives, many of the best ornamentals come from the Americas, especially the area from the southern United States to temperate South America, with the heartland of genus being the high sierras of Mexico. Many others are to be found in the Himalayan regions and the mountains of western China.
This preference for relatively high altitudes is why they make such good garden plants even in climates with summers that are relatively cool compared with those of some of their homelands.
Other than common culinary herb, which is really quite ornamental and occurs in several foliage forms, the sages most often seen are those used as bedding plants. The vivid red of Salvia splendens ‘Bonfire’ and its more recently developed but no less striking dwarf cousins (‘Nana’, ‘Pygmy’, etc.) is regarded by many garden writers as among the most vulgar of suburban kitsch clichés. Personally, I find it difficult to blame a plant simply for being what it is. Sure, the colour is extremely bright and strong and often used to excess, but there’s no denying its brilliance. Salvia splendens knows nothing of understatement and humility, but why criticise it just for being exuberant?
Salvia farinacea is also commonly grown as a bedding plant. Unlike its more flamboyant relative, however, its flower colours tend to be muted pinks and deep blues. The specific name farinacea refers to the farina or floury dusting on the foliage. This and a covering of very fine hairs are common features of sage foliage. They tend to mute the tones of the naturally bright green leaves, giving them that grey-green tone that we know as sage green.
Both S. splendens and S. farinacea are perennial in suitably mild climates but because they quickly become untidy they are usually treated as annuals. Salvia coccinea, a native of tropical South America has also given rise to bedding forms but is strictly an annual in all but the warmest temperate climates.
Sometimes used as a culinary herb or for flavouring drinks, pineapple sage is more widely grown for its bright red flowers and for the pungent aroma of its foliage. Known only in cultivation and given the provisional proper name of S. rutilans, it is most probably a form of S. elegans, a 1.8 m tall perennial or subshrub from Mexico and Guatemala. Both the green-leaved and the variegated forms have equally aromatic foliage, though the plain green form is ultimately a stronger plant that flowers more heavily.
Those then are the everyday sages, but there are scores more available to gardeners and they are well worth seeking out and trying. Although some are rather frost tender, most are extremely easy to grow provided they get the sun for around half the day and your garden meets their basic climatic requirements.
Nurseries and garden centres tend to stock a changing range of probably a half-dozen or so of the most readily available ornamental perennial sages. A glance at the catalogues of mail order suppliers though, will reveal lists of 20 or more, all of which have their merits. The following are among those you’re likely to see.
Clary sage (S. sclarea), a Eurasian species, is an old time medicinal herb that has found a new home in the perennial border. An impressive plant with huge flower buds that develop into spikes up to 1 m long, its only drawback is its size. Often listed in British books as around 1 m tall, New Zealand gardeners find that it can easily reach 2 m under our conditions. It’s not a shy grower either, and can smother less vigorous plants. Cream-, pink-, lilac- to near-purple-flowered forms are available. If you have plenty of room then certainly consider allocating some space for clary sage, otherwise think carefully first.
Salvia involucrata is one of my favourite sages. Everything about it is lush, the foliage and flowers being covered with fine downy hairs resembling crushed velvet. A Mexican native, it grows to around 1.5 m tall, develops into a large clump and flowers from early December through until the autumn frosts cut the stems back. The flowers, in short, tightly packed heads, are deep shocking pink.
The flowers of S. buchananii are a similar shade and texture to those of S. involucrata but the plant is nowhere near as large. It reaches a height of around 60 cm and has deep green leaves that I find every bit as attractive as the long pink flowers. Like S. rutilans it is known only in cultivation, reputedly being found in the 1950s in the garden of an English family living in Mexico City. It would seem, therefore, that it is a Mexican species or more likely a natural hybrid.
For sheer vividness it would be hard to beat the red-flowered sages. Not those treated as annuals that were mentioned earlier, but the larger perennial species. Scarlet sage (S. fulgens) is among the brightest. It grows to around 1 m high and has large leaves and flowers with a covering of fine hairs.
Genuinely blue flowers are rare. Most so-called blue flowers contain some pink, a fact often revealed in colour photographs as their pink tints reflect infrared light and show up on film even though they may not be visible to the human eye. Just try getting a shot of blue lobelia to actually look blue on film if you want to see this effect. Happily, digital cameras aren't affected by this phenomenon
There are, however, several sages with beautiful true blue flowers. For intensity of colour it would be hard to go past S. patens, a 1 m tall perennial from Mexico, but its growth is not very robust and it can get lost among more vigorous plants. That’s definitely not the case with the blue-flowered sage (S. azurea) and the similar but slightly larger S. uliginosa. Both can grow to 2 m or more and bloom heavily from late summer. Although superficially alike, these two species evolved quite separately: S. azurea is a native of the southeastern United States, while S. uliginosa comes from Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
There are purple-flowered sages too. The best known is S. guaranatica, a native of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. The species has spikes of bright purple flowers and grows to over 1.5 m high. Several cultivars have been raised and their flowers range in colour from mauve to deep blackish purple.
Incidentally, the purple sage made famous by Zane Grey in the title of his classic western Riders of the Purple Sage is S. dorrii, a grey-leaved, 1 m high shrub native to the semi-desert areas of North America. It has small purple-pink flowers and is rarely, if ever cultivated.
The ornamental sages tend to be herbaceous perennials that form clumps of soft-wooded stems with terminal flower heads. However, a few evergreen shrubby species are available. Most garden centres stock the blue-flowered S. leucantha from Mexico, and one of the most common North American species, S. greggii, grows only too well here and has become a garden escapee in some areas. Salvia greggii is just as precocious at home, occurring in a variety of forms and freely hybridising with similar species. One of these hybrids S × jamensis (S. greggii × S. microphylla), while new to cultivation, looks like being a very attractive and useful plant. Its flowers occur in many shades cream, yellow, orange, pink and magenta. Nurseries also offer the pink and yellow-flowered ‘Sierra San Antonio’.
Shrubby sages, while evergreen, usually benefit from being cut back hard each year to encourage fresh young growth. Left untrimmed they become rank and untidy with very woody stems. Cut back in autumn in frost-free areas, late winter elsewhere.
My favourite sage falls somewhere between a shrub and a perennial. Evergreen in mild winters and not that tolerant of frosts, S. confertiflora from Brazil appeals to me because the unusual colour and form of its flower heads. It’s a relatively compact species, around 1 m high in flower, and its leaves are reminiscent of the common sage, though at least twice the size. Its flower heads, however, are very distinctive. The flowers are a deep yet bright rusty red, fairly small, but made more conspicuous because the stem on which they’re borne is just as brightly coloured. The flower stems are up to 30 cm long and appear from January through to April.
Sages are usually propagated by division or cuttings. Most can be divided in late winter; those that cannot produce masses of vigorous spring shoots that make ideal cuttings. Use only strong young growth for your cutting or you may find the resultant plants produce rather weak root systems and are prone to collapsing. Although some may demand a bit more space than the smaller perennial, if you have the room they are undoubtedly among the most rewarding and least demanding plants.
Extensively planted in parks and public gardens, sages are so easy to grow add so much colour from midsummer till late in autumn that it’s always surprising that they’re not more common in domestic gardens.
Copyright Geoff Bryant
|
