Black & Bloom salvias are mesmerizing to hummingbirds
Robust and wide-ranging, the Black & Bloom is a beauty that has winner written all over it
Cobalt and indigo blue are terms I regularly see being used as descriptors for one of the relatively new Black & Bloom salvia, one of the hottest plants in the marketplace.
Hummingbird magnet and toughas-nails are other adjectives letting you know this is a special plant.
It’s not every day that a plant scores high in trials as a southern perennial and northern annual — even reaching into Canada — but such is the case for Black & Bloom. When I first heard the name of the plant, I thought someone was doing a cheap knock-off or copycat of Black and Blue, which I love.
This was certainly not the case and had I been told it was Ball FloraPlant behind the engineering of this salvia, I would have immediately known it was something special, as they are gurus in all things salvia.
Black & Bloom has winner written all over it in so many ways. It is robust — reaching 48 inches in height and width, and the leaves are thicker and able to withstand more sun than its predecessor. The stems are sturdy and black, making the cobalt blue blooms with black calyces even more spectacular. And even far northern areas of the U.S. and Canada can revel in the rare beauty of this plant.
As testimony to its performance in the garden, it has been included in the Southern Living Plants Collection and the Sunset Western Garden Collection. This is an outstanding plant that you should be able to find at your local garden centre.
Recently I have seen combinations with Black & Bloom that simply mesmerized me. The first was a partnership with Vermillionaire cuphea — another champion in the world of hummingbird plants. Cuphea’s tubular red/orange and yellow flowers created a dazzling marriage with salvia’s cobalt blue blooms.
The other captivating combinations saw it paired with the colour apricot. In these plantings, one was used with Flying Colors Apricot diascia, a snapdragon relative, and the other with Saucy Apricot salvia. There is something so special about combining these two rare garden colours together.
To grow yours, choose a site in full to part sun for best flowering. This plant is winter-hardy from zones 8 through 10 but only with good drainage. Cold winters, coupled with soggy soil, and the plant will be history. As mentioned above, in colder areas this will be one of the finest annuals you can grow that will bloom from summer through frost.
Prepare your bed by adding three to four inches of organic matter like fine pine bark or compost, and till to a depth of eight to 10 inches. While preparing the bed, incorporate 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of a 12-6-6 slow-release fertilizer with minor nutrients. Plant them at the same depth they are growing in the container spacing two to three feet apart.
Black & Bloom will probably reach 48 inches in height, so plant toward the back of the border. In addition to the combinations mentioned above, don’t be afraid to try rudbeckias like Prairie Sun, or lantanas like Cosmic Firestorm that will give you an incredible backyard habitat for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. It is sure to get your children and grandchildren interested in gardening.