I've a small obsession about the Salvia plant family. Salvias (also known as sages) are a widespread and large sub-family of the mints. They are, for the most part, highly aromatic, and of special interest to me, possessing the some of the brightest and purest colors of any blossoms in any family of plants. Pure bright blues (no cornflower or purpley-blues here, thank you), purples, reds, and yellows, not to mention all the pastels one could wish for in pinks, reds, lilacs and others. All that, not to mention the blue, red, purple, and black calyces, the outrageous flower shapes that look like dragon faces, and the huge variation in form and habit. We won't even begin to discuss how how new species are being discovered yearly and the odd blossom color-changing behaviour of some species.
Each year, I grow about 20 species of salvia: some old favorites and a few new ones each year, mostly grown in large pots. Not all salvias grow well here in the Pacific Northwest - most of them like lots of sun and heat to develop - so many of them bloom late or, unfortunately not at all. It's a wonderful thing to research here in the foothills of the Cascades though, and I keep notes on what seems to do well and what makes a valiant effort and what just doesn't seem to be happy under our our frequently soggy pearl grey skies.
Last year I planted a couple of salvias native to east Asia: Salvia Hians and Salvia Flava. Both of these take a couple of years to establish themselves, so I was really looking forward to seeing them in bloom this year. The Salvia Hians bloomed a month ago and is just now finishing up. Hopefully, they'll rebloom this autumn but I'm thinking not. (There's a photo of Salvia Hians on the June 30 entry of this blog.)
Salvia Flava started to bloom a couple of weeks ago while I was traveling. However, it's still booming along, if slightly past it's prime. It's a lovely purple and white spotted flower that has a fine covering of hair on some surfaces, and the elongated dragon's face that is so expressive. About 3 cm in length or a bit less, it grows in roughly 30 cm spikes of blossoms; my single plant has 5 such wands of flowers.
Here's a side view of Salvia Flava. Enjoy!
