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Salvia Farinacea

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June 3, 2018
A group of plants I’m a fan of for their landscape performance are salvia farinacea. These are tough plants and perfect for our Mississippi landscapes. Let’s take a look at a few. Mealy cup sage is also called blue sage. Dark-blue tubular flowers are densely congested in whorls along the upper stems, creating a three to nine inch spike. The plant will typically be two to three foot tall. Gray-green, lance-shaped leaves are numerous, especially in the lower portion of the plant. Augusta Duelberg salvia produces hundreds of spikes of tubular silvery white flowers through the fall. This plant will top out at 30 inches tall and wide and is a great selection for the heat of our summers. Henry Duelberg salvia has showy foot long spikes of dark royal blue flowers from spring until frost. The plant is more floriferous with bluer flowers than many other selections. Henry Duelberg tend to be tall, topping out at around three feet. An interesting side-story: both Henry and Augusta Duelberg were discovered in a graveyard in Texas and carry the names of the grave sites by which they were found. Rebel Child salvia is a rambunctious salvia. It has the classic dark blue to blue-purple flowers produced in prodigious numbers on dark stems from mid-spring through the fall season. This plant is tall, with the plants in this grouping reaching over three feet. Salvia farinacea are magnets for pollinators, especially bumblebees, butterflies and hummingbirds; plus deer avoid them. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.

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