We’ve been in love with the fall-flowering, woodland Salvia glabrescens for over a decade, but wanted to share photos of a new clone we’ve been trialing from our friends at Issima Nursery. In three years, Salvia glabrescens ‘Dark Heart’ has formed a 2′ tall x 7′ wide clump, that’s in full flower this week (mid-October). This is certainly one sage which we’ll be taking cuttings of in spring. Hardiness Zone 5b-8b, at least.
Love Issima- they seem to be the leaders for breeding/selling asian woodland shade salvias (since Kermit C’s retirement). Interestingly, the deer seem to ignore some of these savlias, but really like eating certain new hybrids.
I Live in Minnesota and have Ph 7.5 clay soil. Can this salvia grow in that? Plus is the flowering determined by temps or day length? I have some salvias still blooming but sometimes we have a frost by now ( though getting unlikelier every season)
Great question, and the answer is we don’t know for sure. My gut is that the pH of 7.5 should be okay, but that’s an educated guess. The flowering is determined by daylength, but the beauty of this species is that frosts don’t affect the flowering.