How To Choose Salvia: Native Plants, Old World Plants & Companion Plants

By David Salman, Founder of High Country Gardens

The genus Salvia, collectively referred to as Sage, is a huge group of flowering plants that are found growing in the wild across the globe, on every continent except Antarctica. As you'd expect from such a widely distributed group of plants, they are very diverse. And yet they all have in common the following characteristics:

• They have showy, long-blooming flowers in a rainbow of colors.
• Their aromatic, resinous foliage makes them very resistant to browsing deer and rabbits.
• Their nectar-rich flowers attract a wide range of pollinators including honey and native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Our guide will help you find the right Salvia for your yard, plus suggested companion plants for your garden.

• Choosing North American Native Salvias
• Choosing Old World Salvias

The western half of the United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America are home to a wide range of tropical and temperate species that have been brought into cultivation. Most of them are very long blooming and will keep your garden full of hummingbirds - the primary pollinators of the native sages - all season long. Unlike their Old World cousins, most of the natives need ‘lean’ (not very fertile), fast-draining soil, and generally don't like clay.

• Salvia Raspberry Delight® - a High Country Gardens Introduction that has proven to be one of the most cold-hardy selections making it growable across much of the western US where winter temperatures are USDA zone 5 and warmer. Raspberry Delight blooms all summer with big raspberry-red flowers. And its foliage has a wonderful sweet herbal fragrance as well.
• Salvia 'Cold Hardy Pink' - a good, cold-hardy variety with fantastic bright pink flowers all summer long.
• Saliva reptans 'Autumn Sapphire' - a dwarf S. reptans species from West Texas that has proven to be USDA zone 5 cold hardy. Salvia reptans blooms for at least six weeks from September into early October, and provides hummingbirds with essential late-season nectar as they fly south to their warm winter habitats.
• Salvia 'Ultra Violet' - a fantastic, everblooming, cold hardy hybrid with violet-pink flowers.
• Salvia ‘Maraschino’ – just like the cherry in your ‘Shirley Temple’, this brightly colored cultivar has excellent cold hardiness and does best with some afternoon shade. Hummingbirds by the dozens!
• Salvia pachyphylla 'Blue Flame' - This is a selected, large-flowered form of the little-known native species from the mountains of southern California. It blooms all summer with showy bright blue flowers poking out from showy bright violet-pink bracts. A hummingbird magnet!

Well Drained Soils Are Best: Typically, native Salvias prefer ‘lean’ (not very fertile), well-drained soils.  They will grow in dry clay conditions in arid climates but will rot out in clay soils where there is more than about 15 to 18” of precipitation annually.  I’ve been working on breeding and selecting for improved cold hardiness in the High Country Garden’s native Salvia introductions.

• See our guide for How To Create Well-Drained Soil

Here are some excellent companion perennials that also enjoy lots of sun and hot growing conditions enjoyed by the native sages. They include:

• Sundrops (Calylophus serrulatus)
• Black Foot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum)
• Apple Blossom Grass (Gaura lindheimeri)
• Blanket Flower (Gaillardia grandiflora and Gaillardia aristata)
• English and French hybrid Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula intermedia)
• Prairie Zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora ‘Gold on Blue’)

The most commonly planted Salvia originate from the ‘Old World’ of Europe and Asia. Many of these ‘Old World’ species and cultivars have been widely grown on both sides of the Atlantic for a long time and there are many great plants to choose from. From a pollinator perspective, this group of Salvia is very attractive to butterflies and all types of honey and native bees. As to flowers, these ‘Old World’ Sages bloom primarily in shades of blue, pink, and white. They are generally well adapted to cold climates and a wide range of soils, including clay.

• Salvia sylvestris ‘May Night’ – a robust grower with very dark blue flower spikes on a re-blooming plant. Shear after first bloom to stimulate another late summer display. One of the best perennials of the 20th century.
• Salvia sylvestris ‘Caradonna’ - The tallest of the S. sylvestris hybrids with black flower stems and deep blue flowers. A favorite nectar source for our native bumblebees.
• Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' PPAF - a High Country Gardens exclusive, 'Little Night' is a dwarf seedlings of 'May Night'. This little gem has all the wonderful attributes of its larger grower parent but matures to a blooming height of only 12 to 14 inches. Perfect for small beds and narrow spaces.
• Salvia sylvestris ‘Blue Hill’ – Beautiful clear blue flowers and a tidy rounded shape. Every plant looks better alongside ‘Blue Hill’

Old World sages thrive in a wide range of soil types including clay and clay-loam soils which is a wonderful attribute for those of us who struggle to find clay tolerant plants. Here are some clay-loving companion plants that you can plant with Salvia.

• Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata)
• Evening Primrose (Oenothera)
• Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale)
• Daylilies (Hemerocallis)
• Yarrow (Achillea)
• Blanket Flower (Gaillardia)

Note: These Salvia grow in other soils equally well and can be paired with an infinite number of other plants that like loams and sandy soils. However, it seems we are always struggling to find clay lovers, so I like to call our attention to this fact.