Salvia ‘Chateau Cathare’: A small mounding shrub, 40cm H, a hybrid of Salvia officinalis with pale pink / mauve flowers for a sunny position.
Salvia ‘Chateau Cathare’: is a hybrid of Salvia officinalis found in France a number of years ago.
Flowers: are small, a soft pale mauve / pink colour in whorls along a long green flower stem. The flower is a falcate type with a long pale mauve hood. The two side lobes are often folded back to open the throat area with the white bottom lobe extended out to act as a landing strip for bees and other insects. Mauve markings around the throat are used as a beeline to guide the bees further into the flower.
Flowering in spring and summer, very bee friendly.
Calyces: are green, slightly hairy, ribbed with pointed lobes. Whorls of 6-8 flowers appear along the green flower stem, held well above the foliage to attract passing insects. The wide green bracts, fall off when all of the flowers open.
The whorls dry out during summer and autumn while the seeds ripen, becoming a lovely straw colour.
Leaves: are typical grey / green colour, long and elliptical, with entire margins. Surfaces are fissured to direct any moisture collected down towards the stems and roots. Leaves are very aromatic, making them ideal for Sage tea.
This hybrid of S. officinalis makes lovely mounds of grey, making it ideal for a border plant or as an informal hedge along a path.
As most of the S. officinalis hybrids are small mounding plants with colourful leaf markings, these can be interplanted to make interesting patterns or design withing the garden bed.
Plant in the fore ground in full sun. Good drainage is needed to carry this plant over any wet periods. A very drought tolerant plant being winter and frost hardy.
In autumn, after the flowers have finished and seed has been collected, it’s time to clean up these small shrubs for the winter months. Cut off all the old flower stems, any dead or twiggy stems, clean out any dead leaves lying around the base which could rot the main stem in cold wet weather.
Check soil drainage for the winter months, mulch lightly to keep the root area warm over the cold winter months. In spring, feed, mulch well again to keep the root area cool for the hot dry summer months.
Propagation: mainly by tip cuttings, taken from fresh new growth in spring. Very bee and insect friendly
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