Salvias in Seattle - 2005 Version

It's a cool, yucky, and gray day here in the Great Northwest with occasional showers. A storm of some size is due to blow in later this afternoon with lots of rain and some wind so I spent the morning and early afternoon in the garden doing autumn cleanup, including cutting back some of my Salvias planted in large pots. It's getting dark now so it's time to come inside, warm up, dry off, and write this year's edition of the Salvias in Seattle 2005 Review.

The early news this year was the blooming of the Asian Salvias, S. hians/forshkahlii(?) (on the left) and S. flava (on the right). Both of these plants put on big shows and were really spectacular. I do wish I could get some sort of definitive identification for the alleged hians plant - there seems to be considerable disagreement among the learned on the Yahoo Salvia List as well as in the nursery trade about which is being sold as what.

New this year were plantings of S. Greggii v. Furman's Red, S. Microphylla var. Variegata, S. Reptans, S. Elegans v. Honey Melon S. Chaemenoides, S. Nemerosa v. Marcus, S. Penstemoides, S. Greggii v. Navajo Yellow and S. Pitcherii v. Graindiflora. With the exception of S. Penstemoides, all bloomed at some point during the summer or fall. S. Reptans and S. Pitcherii both bloomed in late September / early October.

Old friends planted and blooming this year included S. Nemerosa, S. Patens, S. Guarantica v. Black and Blue, S. Farinaccea v. Victoria Blue, S. Officialis, S. Hot Lips, S. May Nights, and several varieties of S. Microphylla, S. Ulignosa, and S. Greggii. Oddly, one of my S. Patens plants produced variegated blosssoms (shown at left).

I also saw several other plantings of interest this year including humungous specimens of S. Leucantha and S. Ulignosa in full bloom in the cutting garden at Dig Nursery on Vashon Island.

After seeing specimens of S. Viridis (left) at the St. Gallen Botanical Garden as well as at the Dig Cutting garden, I'll probably try to see how this grows here in the Cascade foothills next year.

Another highlight was seeing a wild Swiss Salvia tentatively identified by Robin Middleton (Salvia Gardener par excellence) of the UK as S. Pratensis v. Hematodes (right). I found it blooming freely along roadsides for a few weeks at the end of May and early June. Though the blossoms were short lived they were exceptionally lovely with bright clear color.