The Gardener’s Notebook
The summer show-stopper Salvia is the secret to adding instant height and colour to your space, says George Hudson
If you’ve neglected your garden thus far, or you’ve returned from holiday to a sad plant graveyard, you might think your plans for a summer of barbecues and al fresco drinks in a verdant, floral setting are a bust. But fear not, the humble sage plant could come to your rescue.
Far from just a stuffing seasoning, the plant genus ‘salvia’ is a summer show stopper with several varieties available to add instant summer colour to your outside space. A wildly diverse species, salvia produces plants of an array of shapes and sizes with flowers in a rainbow of hues. Even better they love the London climate, so long as they are planted in free-draining soil. Most are so easy to grow as long as your garden or container gets sun for half the day or longer. No London summer garden should be without them.
Expert salvia grower William Dyson is the curator of the Great Comp, and owner of Dyson’s Nurseries, where he grows over 250 types of salvia. Here are his recommendations on what to grow.
Salvia ‘Cerro Potosi’ This one can’t be missed, magenta pink flowers glow all summer, and like most shrubby salvia the foliage is fragrant. Up to 90cm.
Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’ Deep plum-purple flowers rise above dark green foliage, this is a moody saliva
that goes well with lighter flowers. Reaches about 80cm tall.
Salvia ‘Joy’ Has two-toned flowers that are deep pink at the base and almost white at the edge. ‘Joy’ is scented and grows to about 60cm.
Salvia ‘Royal Velours’ These flowers are as regal as it gets, in deep carmine and reaching around 80cm tall.
Salvia ‘Rockin’ Blue Suede Shoes’ No prizes for guessing the colour of this Salvia. It grows to one metre tall, with shocking blue flowers that really pop out at dusk, attached to near black stems or ‘calyx’.
Dyson’s pruning tips:
Different salvias have slightly different needs. Herbaceous ones require less attention than shrubby types, and dead-heading is key to more flowers.