Big and Small Salvias
At most times of the year most people are ”wow’d” by the range of colours , size and beautiful display of the tall autumn / winter flowering Salvias, some of which are really spectacular.
But not everyone can accommodate many of these tall growing Salvias in their small suburban gardens, many are perceived as being too large for these small gardens, but have you noticed how accommodating Salvias are?
Many of the tall growing Salvias have a similar smaller version available.
For instance: if you can’t grow the tall involucrata spp, then ‘Bethellii’ will do just as well as an alternative with the same coloured flowers and a similar flower shape, flowering through summer and autumn and only growing 1m tall.
Other examples can be found in :
‘Black Knight’ 2 – 3m tall, large shrub — ‘Purple Majesty’, 1 m tall, very upright and slender with similar violet purple flowers or ‘Amistad’.
‘Costa Rican Blue’ 2 – 3m tall, — guaranitica ‘Black n’ Blue’, has very vibrant dark blue flowers, similar and only, 1m tall.
‘Bluebird’ 3 – 4m tall, erect — polystachya is a smaller version, flowering in Autumn, similar shaped flower and colour , but only 1m tall.
S. iodantha, 4m tall, erect – littae is a much smaller version, a small shrubby Salvia, have that same vibrant magenta coloured brush of flowers, but growing only 60 – 80 cm tall.Another alternative is elegans ‘Purple’, this is an upright shrub, long spikes of narrow magenta flowers, growing to 1.5m tall, very elegant
S. adenophora, 3-4m tall, arching habit — miniata is a smaller version with those same bright vermilion red flowers, grows in shade, only 60-80cms tall.
How accommodating they all are, but we haven’t found the equivalent for pupurea, karwinskii ,‘Romantic Rose’ or ‘Timboon’, but we will keep looking. So there is the old adage that “ there IS a Salvia for every situation in your garden”