Origin: Eurasia
Family: Lamiacea
Genus: Salvia
Uses: Salvia can be used as perennial borders, cottage gardens, butterfly gardens, wild gardens or along paths.
Tolerances: Deer, Drought, Dry Soil, Air Pollution
Fun Fact: The sage you keep in your kitchen is actually a Salvia! It can be winter hardy in the north; however, it has lesser ornamental value.
A Bit of History: English botanist George Bentham did the first extensive documentation of this genus in 1836. The most common hardy species are S. nemorosa and S. pratensis and the many hybrids derived such as S. x sylvestris and
S. x superbum. Today, we typically refer to the entire class of these hybrids as S. nemorosa (nemorosa from the Latin ‘of woods’) for simplicity and the reason why we commonly refer to these hardy plants and Woodland Sage. Interestingly, all plants with the common name of Sage are Salvia, but we reserve the true genus name for ornamental rather than culinary species
Breeders: Garden Trends, Harris Seeds, American Meadows, Park Seed, Jung Seed, Brent and Becky’s.
Source: The National Garden Bureau
