Salvia  buchananii: is a small perennial, growing only 15-20cm tall with velvety magenta flowers. In colder areas, it can be herbaceous.

Salvia buchananii is a lovely small clumping perennial that can be herbaceous in cold areas.

Flowers: are a wonderful magenta colour with a very long tubular flower, often know as the ‘Velvet Slipper’. The hood is long and hairy  with masses of magenta hairs and the lower lobes are exerted  and folded back like a slipper. These appear in spring through summer and into autumn. Very attractive to small honey eaters and bees crawling up the tube.

Calyces:are green but often coloured brown purple. They are long, sparsely ribbed and glossy. The calyces are held in a whorls of 6 flowers  around a thin brown crimson stem. The internode spacing between each whorls is quite long, which adds to the height of the flower stem to catch passing insects and small birds.

Leaves: are dark green, shiny, elongated elliptical on a long stem, very tropical looking with small veins showing on top of the leaf and small crenations along the edge.

Salvia  buchananii  can make a nice clump in a sunny sheltered position. Ideal for a rock garden or in the front  of an informal border.A very attractive plant to have in the garden.

Plant this very attractive  Salvia en masse to make a statement in dappled shade or under a deciduous tree. Plant with other white perennials and groundcovers to make a great contrast in colours.

At the end of autumn, clean up the clump by cutting old flower stems and any dead leaves. Mulch well to keep the crown warm in winter and cool during the hot dry summers.
When the leaves begin to appear in spring, feed and mulch well again to keep the root area cool during the hot dry summer months.

Propagation: is by tip cuttings taken during the spring  when new growth appears.

Occasionally available

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