Year: 2020

One of the outstanding salvias in a garden, Salvia oxyphora bears big fuzzy cerise flowers through the warmer months. Salvia oxyphora grows as a thicket of thin (5 mm) but sturdy vertical canes about 1.5 – 2 m high. Even when not flowering it is attractive, as it is well filled with large dark green leaves 150 mm long and 50 mm wide. Leaves taper to an extended point, with serrated margins, matt dark green above and covered with tiny hairs below giving a pale reflective effect. Veins are strongly prominent…

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Clear red Salvia miniata flowers shine brightly from a shady spot in the garden. They contrast beautifully with the dark green, shiny leaves. According to BC, Salvia miniata comes from shaded mountain hillsides at around 600 m height, in warm and moist parts of Belize, and Chiapas in Mexico. Consequently it needs a frost-free climate to survive outdoors. Although BC describes it as a herbaceous perennial, it grows and flowers year-round here. The thin glossy leaves give it a lush look for a salvia, but it is surprisingly drought tolerant; I kept…

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