Sensational SALVIAS

From early summer to late autumn, shrubby salvias will sparkle like jewels

- NICOLA STOCKEN

As summer drifts towards autumn and the sun sinks ever lower, it backlights and beautifies all flowers, but one group in particular sparkle with an intensity that sets them apart. These are shrubby salvias: tidy little bushes that are lavishly adorned with a myriad of tiny, gem-like flowers in shades of amethyst, garnet, topaz or opal. Starting in early summer, the flowers shine radiantly through summer hazes and autumn mists, until subdued by a dusting of frost.

Originating largely from Mexico and southernmost states of the US, today’s shrubby salvias fuse the untamed beauty of a wildflower with the skill of modern breeders who are producing hybrids in a huge range of colours and forms.

‘I love growing salvias, and there are few other plants that flower almost non-stop from May until November – you can even find some flowering on Christmas Day,’ enthuses William Dyson, a salvia specialist who breeds captivating new cultivars for which his nursery, Dyson’s Nurseries, is well-known.

Many are displayed throughout Great Comp Garden in Kent – William is the garden’s curator. ‘Once I discovered shrubby salvias, I became hooked, and since then, I’ve sought out as many forms as possible,’ he explains.

His love affair with salvias began in the early 1990s, after plant-hunters returned from Mexico with many exciting, hitherto unknown cultivars.

‘I acquired some seeds and planted them in dry, free-draining greensand where, to my surprise, they not only flourished, but also happily survived our winters,’ he says. ‘However, had they keeled over and died, it might have been a quite different story.’