This sage is tender, and is best grown as a pot plant or an annual.  However, it has very nice glossy foliage and quite interesting flowers, washed with a light peach (actually, light uneven washs of both yellow and pink pigments.  The lower floral lip edges are stronger with the pink pigment, while the upper hood is a bit stronger in the yellow. 

It likes Mediterranean conditions, and can survive nicely in sunny windows in western Massachusetts for the winter.  Originally collected by Yucca-Do, this plant is a favorite of customers of Logee's Greenhouses and Blue Meadow Herb Farm. 

This form is typical of some populations of Salvia greggii in Mexico from Big Bend down to Tula, Tamaulipas.  There are hybrid swarms in various sites with wide variations in flower color, supposedly from red and yellow parents.  There is also a wide variation in foliage as well.  More on this later.

This is the first of my hybrid Salvia introductions.  It has the extended toughness of both of its parents and is a long-lived perennial that can handle both sun and moderate shade.  Many people report that it is in constant bloom from one month after last spring frost to the first hard frost of fall.  As with all members of the greggii - microphylla group, it blooms most heavily in the moderate heat of spring and fall and in Mediterranean climates. 

Tony Avent used this sage to make a hedge at the North Carolina state fairgrounds quite a while ago, and it is still there as far as I know.

This is the old standard for the involucrata/puberula group of sages.  It is upright in habit and starts blooming in mid to late summer.  Called roseleaf sage because of the fine dentation on the leaf margin, the veins and stems are marked with burgundy, and the flower head starts as an involucre (rosebud) of bracts. 

This is the favored sage for use as a hummingbird plant in the San Francisco Bay area.  Besides these two species, their relatives S. karwinskii, S. wagneriana, S. holwayi, S. cardinalis (now considered a form of S. fulgens), and S. stolonifera (perhaps more closely related to S. schaffneri) of section Cardinales are all good horticultural candidates.

This is the light yellow selection of the pastel-colored Jame sages that was brought to the United States by Tovah Martin when she was at Logee’s Greenhouses.  The other forms were `Pat Vlasto’ (peach), `La Siesta’ (pink), `La Tarda’ (pink & peach), and `Devantville’ (orange).  There is a great deal of variation in these plants in foliage and growth habit.  Some are more tender than others. 

These plants will grow best in the northern states as annuals and should make fairly good houseplants if kept in a cool, sunny window during the winter.  They do grow fairly well in the cooler parts of the southeastern states, but are more compact and colorful in Mediterranean areas.

`Waverly’ sage has been the subject of some controversy about its origin.  It seems to be a garden sport from northern California.  To me, it is obviously related to common Mexican bush sage.  The flowers are somewhat larger, but otherwise nearly identical.  The purple hairs are still present, but reduced to a burgundy farina.  This gives the flower heads, about twice the dimensions as Mexican bush sage, a mostly white appearance.  Sean O’Hara guesses that the other parent is S. chiapensis, a common sage in collector’s gardens in the Bay area. 

It can be grown over a wide range, but will be best as an annual in northeastern states and as a reliable perennial in Mediterranean climates.  It does well in cooler parts of the southeastern states. 

This plant has been known as the cultivar `Santa Barbara’ in some parts of California and as `San Marcos Lavender Sage’ in New England.  The proper varietal name should simply be `Waverly’, since `Santa Barbara’ is now being applied to a new selection from that California city with a lower, more compact habit and bluer flowers.  This is a very different plant from `Waverly’, and is under a plant patent registered to PlantHaven.

This is the discovery of Frances Parker of Beaufort, South Carolina, named for her grandson.  It is a cross between ordinary Mexican bush sage and ordinary pineapple sage.  When I tell people this, the response is disbelief.  If one looks closely and compares it with the parents, the relationships become obvious.  The prominent gray hairs of the foliage of S. leucantha are still present, but more dilute and scattered.  The leaves are as broad as pineapple sage and have a similar vein pattern.  The flowers are similar to S. leucantha, but are purple-black.  If the purple and red genes of both parents are expressed in the hybrid, such a color is possible.  The most convincing evidence of the origin is that the supposed parents were the only sages in Frances’ garden at the time. 

This plant may have some use as a cut or dried flower because of the nearly 2 foot long spikes.  In the garden, it has the robust habit of S. farinacea  x `Indigo Spires’ and is a late bloomer.