May Plant Spotlight: Salvia Farinacea

Salvia Farinacea: 

Not only is this one of my most used and beloved

native perennials, it has a special place in the spring garden. I believe it is almost always the first of perennial blooms to open.

It is perfect in its truest form, yet it’s also the salvia from whence seemingly a thousand cultivars have sprung. Each year plant breeders create more cultivars and each year I purchase and ogle over all.

I have seen it growing in the wild, often near a river or stream, a few yards off in soil that is moist but well drained. Elegant and sturdy, the plant boasts the sweetest pale purple blooms. I love it in a naturalist meadow or in a more curated cottage garden amongst other purples, pinks, and whites (bee balm, native hibiscus, phlox and more!). It reseeds well, the hummingbirds and bees adore it, and it is incredibly drought tolerant.

Wild Azaleas are wonderful as a specimen plant, a hedge, as a pair flanking a gate, the list goes on!

[Read Jess Cole's February Plant Spotlight on the Louisiana Trillium, here.]