Skip to product info
SALE
Ships in FALL

Caradonna Salvia

Salvia sylvestris 'Caradonna'

$8.79
$8.79 $10.99
per Plant - 5" Deep Pot
Sale | Save 20%
ZONES  4-9 | Good to grow! Zone
Bulk Savings - Buy More, Save More!
No shipping data More Information

• Salvia x ‘Caradonna’ (Sage) is a beautiful Old World sage with tall, very dark purple flower stems and stunning blue-violet flowers
• Vertical spikes of richly colored blooms last for weeks providing a superb nectar source for honeybees
• Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit recipient

Videos
 

More Like This

Description

24" tall x 18" wide 'Caradonna' is unique with its tall, dark purple flower stems and rich purple-blue flowers, 'Caradonna' blooms for many weeks beginning in late spring. This particular variety thrives in a wide range of soils (including clay) and provides a strong vertical element with its uniformly upright flower spikes. Try it with lavender, ornamental grasses, or yarrow. It thrives with minimal care. Cut back to just above the ground in early spring. Remove the flowering spikes after blooming. A distinctive, award-winning cultivar developed at Zillmer Nursery in Germany. (cutting propagated).

Planting & Care

Tips For Growing Salvia

Salvia (commonly referred to as ‘Sage’) represent a huge family of ornamental plants that attract a variety of pollinators to their nectar rich flowers. They are resistant to deer and rabbits.

  1. Plant in full sun.
  2. Plant native Western Salvia varieties in soil that is low fertility and well-drained.
  3. Plant Old World Salvia in a wide range of soils (loams, sand) including clay.
  4. Many spring-flowering varieties of sage will re-bloom in fall if deadheaded after the first bloom.
  5. New transplants need regular irrigation their first growing season to establish themselves. Once established they will need regular, deep irrigation during hot, dry weather.
  6. During fall garden clean-up, wait to cut back the plants until spring for improved cold hardiness.
  7. In colder USDA zones (zone 6 and below) it is essential to give Native Southwestern and Southwestern hybrids protection from the extreme cold their first couple winters in the garden. Mound up pine needles or fallen autumn leaves over and around the base of the plant.

Western Native Salvia: : It is from the Western US that we find our most beautiful native salvia species. For attracting hummingbirds, there are no finer flowers than the Western native sages. Typically, this group of Salvia 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.

Western Salvia include:

  • Salvia greggii - ‘Furman’s Red’, ‘Cold Hardy Pink’
  • Salvia hybrids - ‘Maraschino’, ‘Raspberry Delight’, ‘Ultra Violet’ and ‘Burgundy Seduction’.
  • Salvia pachyphylla and Salvia dorrii is recommended for arid western gardens.
  • Salvia azurea and Salvia reptans - Early fall bloomers with excellent cold hardiness.

To get established in USDA zones 5 & 6, Western Salvia (noted above) must be planted in spring or early summer, not in the fall. Protect your new plants over their first winter or two in your garden. Cover each plant with a generous pile of clean straw or pine needles. This allows the plant's crown (junction of root and branches) to mature and obtain maximum cold hardiness.

Old Wolrd Salvia: The Old World Salvia include some of the very best, most durable, longest-lived perennials. These salvia are an excellent choice for gardeners across most of the United States. ‘Old World’ Sages bloom primarily in shades of blue, pink and white. They are well adapted to cold climates and a wide range of soils including clay. The European Salvia are incredibly attractive to honey bees, many of our native bees and bumble bees as well as butterflies.

Old World varieties include:

  • Salvia syslvestris'Lyrical Rose', 'May Night', 'Little Night', 'Caradonna' and 'Marcus'.
  • Salvia daghestanica
  • Salvia verticiliata

More in-depth guidance for growing Salvia:Planting Nectar Rich Salvia to Attract Pollinators to the Garden

Shipping

No shipping data

As soon as your order is placed you will receive a confirmation email. You will receive a second email the day your order ships telling you how it has been sent. Some perennials are shipped as potted plants, some as perennial roots packed in peat.  The ‘Plant Information’ section describes how that item will ship. All perennials and fall-planted bulbs are packaged to withstand shipping and are fully-guaranteed. Please open upon receipt and follow the instructions included.

Perennials and fall-planted bulbs are shipped at the proper planting time for your Growing Zone. Perennial and fall-planted bulb orders will arrive separately from seeds. If your order requires more than one shipment and all items are shipping to the same address, there is no additional shipping charge. See our shipping information page for approximate ship dates and more detailed information. If you have any questions, please call Customer Service at (801) 769-0300 or contact us by email or chat.

View

Key Features

Light Requirements

  • Full Sun

Bloom Time

Late spring

Advantages

  • Bee Friendly
  • Attracts Butterflies
  • Long Bloom Time
  • Easy To Grow
  • Low Maintenance
  • Cut Flowers
  • Fragrant
  • Container Planting
  • Rock Gardens
  • Deer Resistant
  • Rabbit Resistant

Additional information

Mature Height

24" tall

Mature Spread

18" wide

Soil Type

  • Average Soil
  • Sandy Soil
  • Clay Soil

Soil Moisture

  • Waterwise

Planting Time

  • Fall

Growing Zones

  • Zone 4
  • Zone 5
  • Zone 6
  • Zone 7
  • Zone 8
  • Zone 9

Can Send To PO Box

No

Ships to Hawaii & Alaska

No

Overall rating: 4.8 / 5 from 10 reviews.

AI Generated Review Summary

Summary topics

Review topics: ["plant","flowers","stems","salvia"].

Review highlights

Reviews

Great plants!

"These are off to a great start! I planted the new ones among some established salvias, so the babies would have a good example. They're all making flower buds, so the show will start soon. I'm looking forward to all the bees that they'll attract!"

— DanO (5/5)

Productive from the very start

"An abundance of blooms in the first year. Impressive!"

— Excited (5/5)

Well packed

"The plants arrived well. They looked healthy and well packaged. I ordered 4 for my flower bed, two had many leaves and the other two had fewer and were slightly smaller."

— Andrea (5/5)

Reblooming!

"Beautiful deep purple flowers . Mine is reblooming from October into November in Montgomery County, MD"

— Lynn M. (5/5)

I love this Salvia it is attractive and hardy

"This Salvia thrives in amended, poor, clay soil that is in my back yard. The two in the back on either side were planted less than a year ago, and the two in front were planted this Spring."

— Kathy (5/5)

beautiful and striking

"This plant struggled in it's first year in my garden. I think it was under-watered for the first few weeks, and it seemed to take all season to recover. But it has awoken to it's second year with energy and beauty. The leaves are green, the stems are tall and purple, and the flowers are nice and dark. I have two of them in a grouping with two little Marcus salvias and one medium-sized salvia I got from a local nursery. I love the way the different heights accent each other."

— Leslie (5/5)

Great Sage variety

"I use salvia for the intense blue tone, the spiky texture in the garden and especially to attract bees and hummingbirds. Central Oregon is high desert sage country, and Caradonna did very well, in spite of the very tough hot, drought conditions."

— Prineville S. (5/5)

Goldfinches adore it.

"I love the color and height of Cardonna. The goldfinch population comes by after seeds form and eat the seeds like corn on the cob."

— Lazysuzy (5/5)

A little disappointing

"The flavor of the leaves in cooking was wonderful, but the plant didn't really grow much and it never flowered."

— Harbinger (3/5)

BEAUTIFUL PLANT, STRONG PERFORMER

"I HAVE PURCHASED SEVERAL OF THESE PLANTS FROM HIGH COUNTRY GARDENS AND ALL HAVE DONE WELL. THEY ARE NOT EASY TO FIND IN OTHER NURSERIES. THEIR PURPLE STEMS ARE STRONG, AS WELL AS STRIKING. THE PLANT IS LARGE, EXTREMELY FLORIFEROUS, AND IS A BEE MAGNET."

— PLANT L. (5/5)

Q&A

Your Recently Viewed