MAD FOR MADELINE!
This sultry natural beauty has a wild charm and returns year after year
Madeline has captured my heart, but my wife doesn’t mind. it happened at last month’s Chatsworth Flower Show where i had vowed not to buy anything because the garden is already stuffed, and it would need a shoehorn to cram in another plant.
That was before seeing Madeline. Meadow Clary, Salvia pratensis, is a gorgeous perennial wildflower with 70cm spikes in sultry blue. But S. p. Madeline has bicolour flowers in soft white and rich purple- blue — an enchanting contrast.
Madeline was bred by Piet Oudolf, the master of naturalistic planting. it looks charming in ‘re-wilded’, that’s weedy and undisciplined, borders like mine. if grown in a smart pot, it could triple the glam on your patio.
Worldwide there are more than 900 salvia species, many pretty enough for the sniffiest gardener. The flowers vary, but all are tubular, usually opening to a hooked mouth with hanging lower ‘lip’. They can be any colour — even brown — but red and blue predominate.
You can buy containerised plants any time, online or from garden centres. You’ll also see them at plant fairs or flower shows such as RHS Tatton Park (July 19 to 23).
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
KiTCHen sage is the most widely grown salvia. it’s a tasty herb with blue flowers and attractive foliage. decorative-leaf varieties such as Purpuras
cens or variegated ‘Tricolor’ are also suitable for kitchen use.
The showiest, though, come from the americas. The Victorians introduced silver and blue
Salvia farinacea, a Texas native. My grandfather adored the red Brazilian S. splendens. He grew beds of it, bordered with blue lobelia and white alyssum — a Fifties planting cliche.
Where there’s too little space for bedding, individual salvias will give lasting pleasure.
S. greggii and S. microphylla have shrubby habits and flower all summer. Varieties include scarlet Royal Bumble, candy pink icing Sugar, red-and-white Hotlips, and many more. Where there’s space, bigger bolder salvias are even better. The whopping S. guaranitica grows to 1.5 metres high with flowers in deep blue. There’s S. g. Black and Blue whose dark calyces contrast with mid-blue flowers.
More recently, S. amistad was introduced and became a hit. attractive foliage, dark stems and near-black calyces enhance the royal purple flowers.
HEAVENLY BLUE
THe most intensely blue species, Salvia patens is also one of the easiest to grow. From a tuberous root, 50cm stems carry large parrot-bill flowers in vivid peacock blue.
like almost all salvias, those mentioned are easy to grow and to propagate from seed or cuttings. Half-hardy new World salvias need winter protection.
Besides Madeline, there are lovely border varieties, many raised in Germany. Outstanding ones include dark blue Ostfriesland and a mid-blue dwarf, Blauhugel.
One of the most striking plants in my garden is Salvia sclarea
var. turkestanica. droughttolerant, it has metre- high branched stems with showy bracts in pinkish white and green. don’t plant this one too near the house though — it has a disturbingly sweaty scent.