Salvia...My Love;

Salvia Guarantica; blue and black flowers end of summer;

Salvia guaranitica; Cultivar black and blue; Blue Anise Sage or Anise Scented Sage is also called Brazilian Blue Sage due to its nativity in southeastern Brazil, Paraguay & northern Argentina, or Sapphire Sage for its jewel-bright blooms.

It can be sensitive to cold & can be tender in (Zone 8). It will return every year bigger & flowerier than the last. In areas where winters fall below 20 degrees F., it can still do quite well as an annual.

In Zone 9 or 10 it will not be sensitive, but may on the contrary require a bright shade location since its large leaves will be injured if conditions are actually desert like.It likes moist well-draining soil, but dislikes over watering, & can be at some risk of rotting out of the gardening during wet winters if soil drains poorly.

In a more open area where it is subject to winter rains, a winter mulch may help barrier the soil somewhat.It grows into a three or four feet tall, potentially a six foot semi-woody shubshrub if allowed to get lanky & not annually pruned.

To look its best it really needs to be cut back severely in late winter or early spring so that it will remain a bit shorter & more compact.It takes until early summer to grow back, but if the previous year's growth is left, the new growth will not be as fine, so it is not a good idea to refrain from completely cutting back whatever is left of it from winter.

The cultivar 'Black & Blue' has largish (one- to two-inch) tubular & open parrot-beak ("bilabiate") blossoms of cobalt blue with black calyces (where the regular species would be green). An "orniphilic" flower, the shape is intended foremost to be inviting to hummingbirds.

These bicolor flowers are present over a long period from mid-summer to deep into autumn, at least until first frost. Deadheading the spent flowers helps to keep it reblooming. If it per chance stops blooming before summer's end, cut it back by one-third to one-half & it will take off flowering anew. The persistence of its flowering is one of its great assets.The attractive round pointed foliage is usually a dark even green, but occasionally a paler green. The leaves are so sweet-scented it has almost the scent of candy, hence the common name anise sage, though the scent is not really anise-like, it's more of a candied sage. It takes only a slight brushing into it in order to release its wondrous odor.

Spreading with rhizomes over time the clump can spread to three feet wide. Large clumps can be divided in spring. Or starts can be made from softwood cuttings in spring, or ripening summer cuttings, or from terminal cuttings from any month of the growing seasons.It needs the fullest sun exposure to flower its best; it'll be lanky & tip over if it experiences much shade, but will still bloom. A light slow-release fertilizing in early spring is enough.

Believe it or not:
"The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power."

Enjoy!

Photos T.S.