FOLLOW MY SAGE ADVICE
Cheery salvias will pep up your plot and bloom into November
FOR dog-lovers who pamper their pets while they travel, Land Rover has a new range of canine accessories.
Pet Packs, costing from £360 to £887, include a spill-resistant bowl, access ramp, a foldable mobile pet-carrier kennel, a quilted load-space liner and a portable shower system to wash away muck after muddy walks. The launch is ahead of International Dog Appreciation Day tomorrow. Nearly half of Land Rover and Range Rover drivers are dog owners — double the number of UK households owning a pooch (landrover.co.uk).
THE 20th anniversary Goodwood Revival will host what’s believed to be the world’s most valuable motor race with 30 classic pre-1963 GT cars competing in the Kinrara Trophy. They have a combined value of nearly £200 million. The race, from sunset to dusk on September 7, also features ten Ferrari 250 GT SWBs (including the unique ‘Breadvan’).
Has the saharan summer spoilt your garden? if so, pep it up with salvias. Besides culinary sage there are roughly a thousand species, plus hundreds of garden hybrids to choose from. european salvias flower in early to midsummer but new World varieties are in full swing now. many flower until november. The best known, Salvia
splendens, is from Brazil and has scarlet petals above nettlelike leaves.
it is tender and grown as bedding, but like many american varieties will survive winter if protected. mine came through this year’s late-march freeze thanks to mulching.
most salvias prefer fertile, freedraining soil in good light. The tallest need support, but lower growing varieties develop into loose, colourful mounds. if flowering falters in summer, cut back tired stems and await new shoots with fresh blooms.
new World salvias have elegant hook-shaped flowers, often with intense colouring. Their foliage can be aromatic, but less so than their european cousins.
all are easy to propagate. many will grow from seed but you can take soft cuttings at any time. Root yours now and you’ll have young plants in a few weeks, though they will need winter protection.
specialist nurseries stock the best selections. Try ashwood, ash wood nurseries.
com, and crocus.co.uk.
STRIKING SHADES
THE most intensely blue varieties include Salvia
cacaliifolia and S. patens whose petals are shaped like parrot bills. Both are clump-forming.
one of the tallest, S. uliginosa or bog sage, flowers from early autumn. if grown in moistureretentive soil, tall wavy stems can reach 2m and carry brilliant kingfisher-blue flowers
S. fulgens has the hottest red flowers but those of S. x jamensis Royal Bumble are scarlet, too. Both are easy to control and suitable for small spaces. By contrast Brazilian S. confertiflora, is massive with handsome leaves and thin spires of rusty red flowers.
Loftiest among calmer-coloured varieties, S. guaranitica, has dark-skinned 2m stems, nettlelike leaves and purple- blue flowers. it’s for a wide border.
Salvia amistad — also tall — will flourish in a big pot or a border. The flowers are rich violet, with dark calyces. Salvia amistad is easy to control and blooms from may to october.
Salvia Wendy’s Wish, has pink flowers and rust-flushed calyces.
FAITHFUL BLOOMERS
MID-SIZED shrubby varieties flower almost constantly. many were developed from S. greggii and S. microphylla. The showy flowers of S. microphylla are usually crimson but can also be pink or purple. Those of
S.greggii can be red, purple, pink, orange or white.
Varieties include purple nachtvlinder through pinks and reds to peachy California sunset and cream sierra san antonio.
shrubby salvias are easy to grow in a sheltered sunny spot but some will go leggy, especially in part-shade. prevent that by removing too long or exhausted stems to bring on new shoots.
Root soft cuttings in freedraining potting compost. Cuttings rooted by october become young plants for overwintering in a frost-free greenhouse or on a windowsill.
protect outdoor plants by covering their roots with a thick mulch. you can also dig up and divide clump-forming varieties — but do that next april. For now, enjoy the flowers.