Salvia Chiapensis

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Salvia Chiapensis

Salvias for Bay Area Gardens

Mediterranean climate gardeners have a diverse selection of plants to choose from when creating their landscapes. One of the most versatile and popular group of plants within this living palette is the genus salvia, most commonly called sages. Over 700 species of salvias have been identified so far.

Sage Types

Sage types range from the annual bedding plant Salvia farinacea, to the deciduous Salvia darcyi and the shrubby evergreen Salvia clevelandii. Sages offer a wide range of colors including the yellow Salvia greggii 'Moonlight', the orange spikes of Salvia confertiflora, the multitudes of red flowers of Salvia microphylla, the rich purple flowers of salvia chiapensis and the multi-colored peach-yellow flowers of Salvia jamensis 'Sierra de San Antonio'. Most sages prefer full sun and well draining soil. Some are extremely drought tolerant such as Salvia clevelandii, while the bog salvia, Saliva uliginosa, thrives and spreads quickly in moist soils. Our mild climate allows us to grow both hardy and tender species from around the world.

California is blessed with a wide variety of native sages ranging from the green leaved, ground hugging Salvia sonomensis to the silver leaved Salvia apiana and the woody, pale grey mounds of Salvia clevelandii.

Sages Attract Hummingbirds

In addition to the colorful flowers and interesting foliage of salvias, one of the main benefits of growing sages is the hummingbirds they attract. Walking through the Meso American section of at U.C. Berkeley Bot Garden you begin to wonder if perhaps you are in a national hummingbird preserve. There are literally dozens of hummers visiting yellow, orange, red, blue and purple salvia chiapensis flowers.

Culinary and Medicinal Uses

Many sages have culinary and medicinal herbal uses. www.Botanical.com provides a wealth on information on these valuable salvias.

My Favorite Sages

The following are some of my favorite sages grouped by garden use. Betsy Clebsch's new salvia book entitled which was recently published by Timber Press is the definitive reference book for sages in Mediterranean Gardens. (It's available in many local book stores, and Clebsch is discussing salvias at many Bay Area gardening settings this summer. Check the Classes sections of this Web site for upcoming appearances.)

Large landscape shrubs

Salvia gesneriiflora 'Tequila'. One of the largest sages with large showy red flowers and distinctive black calyces.
Salvia idodanthe. A large Mexican sage with magenta flowers.

Salvias for the back of the flowering border

Salvia confertiflora. An upright sage with fall blooming orange flower spikes.
Salvia guaranitica. Cultivars of this sage offer light blue, rich blue, or dark purple flowers.
Salvia involucrata. Pinkish rosebud shaped flowers rise above robust foliage.
Salvia madrensis. An upright sage with prominent ribbed stems and yellow flowers.
Salvia mexicana 'Limelight'. An amazing sage with flowers of blue petals and eye catching translucent lime calyces.

Showy mounds of Color

Salvia greggii 'Furman's Red'. An especially large lipped, intense red selection of the Texas sage. Several other color forms are available.
Salvia leucantha. This Mexican salvia is perhaps the most planted garden sage with multitudes of purple/white or all purple flowers.
Salvia microphylla 'Neurepia'. A particularly floriferous selection with large reddish-pink flowers. Several other color forms are available.

Container Salvias

Salvia buchananii. Fuzzy, bell-shaped, red lipstick flowers.
Salvia chamaedryoides. Sky blue flowers rise above a mound of silver foliage.
Salvia chiapensis. Magenta red-violet flowers rise above dark green, glossy leaves.
Salvia coahuiluensis. Deep purple flowers rise above a green mound of aromatic foliage.
Salvia farinacea. A dependable bedding sage with white or blue flowers.
Salvia microphylla var. grahamii 'Purple' or 'Red'. Rising above pleasantly aromatic foliage, splashes of reddish-violet or red flowers provide several months of color.
Salvia paten. Large, showy, rich blue or light blue flowers.
Salvia semiatrata. A most unusual sage boasting felted, deep purple flowers and small triangular shaped, olive-green foliage.
Salvia taraxifolia. The Dandelion sage boasts unusual grey foliage and pinkish- white flowers.

Winter blooming Salvias

Salvia dorisiana. Bright clear pink flowers and outrageous grapefruit-scented foliage.
Salvia gesneriiflora 'Tequila'. A large robust sage with showy red tubular flowers with distinctive black calyces.
Salvia iodantha. A large Mexican sage with long, narrow, tube-like magenta flowers.
Salvia semiatrata. The deep purple flowers bloom for much of the winter and are particularly striking in containers where the smaller flowers can be viewed close- up.

Drought tolerant native Salvias

Salvia apiana. Striking, shiny, silver foliage. Excellent honeybee sage.
Salvia 'Bees Bliss'. A hybrid of S. leucophylla and S. mellifera boasting a matt of grey-green foliage and light blue flowers.
Salvia brandegii. Blue flowers rise above small, wrinkled, scalloped, green leaves.
Salvia clevelandii. A quinesential chaparral sage with marvelously fragrant grey-green foliage and dark blue to lavender flowers. Several selections are available.
Salvia sonomensis 'Dara's Choice'. A garden tolerant hybrid selection of our native Creeping sage which forms a broad, mounding carpet of grey-green leaves above which masses of blue-purple flower spikes appear in spring.

Salvias for partial to full shade locations

Salvia cacaliaefolia Sky-blue flowers rise above wide, triangular shaped, dark green leaves.
Salvia chiapensis Rich magenta flowers. Unfortunately, deer love this sage. Reseeds.
Salvia dorisiana Bright clear pink flowers and outrageous grapefruit-scented foliage.
Salvia gnesneriiflora 'Tequila'. A large sage that blooms in the shade of Oaks or full sun.
Salvia guaranitica 'Omaha Gold'. Blue flowers and variegated foliage look best when protected from strong sunlight.
Salvia roemeriana. A partial shade loving sage with red tubular flowers.
Salvia wageriana. Pink rosebud shaped buds develop into clusters of pink flowers. A large shrubby sage with lighter green foliage.

Foliage Salvias

Salvia argentea. Amazing fuzzy silver foliage. Short lived but reseeds freely.
Salvia chamaedryoides. Sky blue flowers rise above a mound of silver foliage.
Salvia dorsiana. Magenta flowers and outrageous grapefruit-scented foliage.
Salvia elegans. The famous Pineapple sage with strongly scented, fruity foliage.
Salvia officinalis.The Garden sage is used in cooking. Several cultivars are particularly noteworthy including 'Bergarten' with wide silvery foliage, 'Purpurascens' with ornamental purple foliage and 'Tricolor' with striking grey, white and purplish- pink foliage.

Were to See Salvias

San Francisco Bay Area gardeners have several local public gardens to view the sages.

Both Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park, andthe University of California at Berkeley Botanic Garden have substantial collections of native and exotic sages.
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden boasts a wide collection of native California sages.
The Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden Center in Palo Alto has a wide collection of sages on public display.
Cabrillo College in Soquel (just south of Santa Cruz) has one of the largest public display of sages like salvia chiapensis in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Salvia chiapensis Sales

Many of our local retail nurseries offer a wide selection of sages during the warmer months of the year.

Plant sales are a good source of some of the more unusual sages. Local botanic gardens offer sages at their annual plant sale beginning with the U.C. Botanic Garden on April 26th and Strybing Arboretum spring plant sale on Friday, May 2nd, (members only) and Saturday, May 3rd. Tilden's Botanic Garden also offers native sages at their annual plant sale on April 19.

The annual Cabrillo College plant sale offers the greatest selection of sages in our area. The sale is always held Mother's Day Weekend with the public sale running Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May9, 10, & 11. Last year over 90 different selections of sages were available. Salvia hand outs and advise from the growers are available during the sale. If you are really into salvias this is the sale to attend. Cabrillo supporting members have a preview sale Thursday evening 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Memberships are available at the sale.

(The links in the above paragraphs take you to the Sales/Shows & Events section of this Web site, where you can get additional information about the mentioned sales.)

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