702 



SALVIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SALVIA. 



protection, and resists drought, blooming 

 through a long season. Seedlings are 

 easily raised, and flower the first season, 

 or a reserve of rooted cuttings may be 

 wintered under glass. 



S. HIANS. A hardy perennial from Cash- 

 mere, growing 18 inches high, with large 

 hairy leaves like the Clary, and fine 

 violet-blue flowers with a pure white 

 lower lip, and carried in bunches of six 

 together. Free in growth and flower, it 

 is one of the best border Salvias. 



S. HORMINUM (Bluebeard). A useful 

 annual kind from the south of Europe, of 

 dwarf spreading habit, with oval or wedge- 



Sah'ia patens. 



shaped leaves and showy clusters of 

 coloured bracts around inconspicuous blue 

 flowers. These showy clusters are pro- 

 duced on every shoot and last fresh for 

 a long time, their colour carrying from 

 white to reddish-violet and deep purple, 

 according to the variety. 



S. OFFICINALIS (Common Sage). Apart 

 from its value as a garden herb, this is 

 good as a border plant when covered with 

 its flowers, either purple, blue, or white. 

 There are several garden varieties with 

 beauty of leaf, such as aurea with golden 

 leaves, crispa (in which they are finely 

 curled), and others in variegated colours 

 green and white, green and gold, and 

 tricolor with blending shades of grey- 

 green, gold, and rosy-purple. The form 

 salicifolia from Spain has long and narrow 

 whitish leaves, and is strongly aromatic. 



S. PATENS. One of the best plants 

 in cultivation, the intense blue of its 

 flowers making it a charming object. 

 Though tender in most gardens, the 

 tuberous roots are easily wintered in a 

 frost-proof place, and increase is easy 

 from seed or cuttings rooted in early 

 spring. 



S. PRATENSIS (Wild Sage). One of our 

 prettiest native plants, and withal so un- 

 common as to be worth a place in gar- 

 dens, its graceful stems of about 2 feet 

 high bearing showy flowers of rich purple, 

 white, rose, blue, or reddish - purple, 

 according to the variety. 



S. PRZEWALSKII. A new hardy kind 

 from China and Central Asia, growing as 

 a stout perennial with conspicuous bluish- 

 violet flowers of a pretty pale shade 

 coming in June. Its earliness, resistance, 

 and vigour make it a useful border plant. 

 S. RINGENS. A low shrubby kind, with 

 handsome Sage - like leaves and large 

 flowers of lavender-blue and white. The 

 plant will bear a mild winter in the south 

 of Britain. 



S. ROEMERIANA. A bright dwarf plant 

 from Texas, of such neat growth as to be 

 well fitted for edgings or the front of 

 borders. It flowers early, and the deep 

 crimson flowers are continued through 

 several weeks. Increase by seed or 

 cuttings, which should be wintered under 

 glass. 



S. SCLAREA (Clary). One of the old 

 plants long grown in British gardens, and 

 still valued in country districts for brewing 

 herb-wine. It is a biennial from the south 

 of Europe, with clammy hairy stems, 

 ample heart-shaped leaves, and bluish- 

 white flowers in August. A strong form 

 of this, known as bracteata (gigantea}, bears 

 pale mauve-coloured bracts ; and 5. 

 Forskohlei, which comes very near Sclarea, 

 shows a blending of violet, blue, and white. 

 S. SPLENDENS. - This is the most 

 showy of the family, in its clear green 

 foliage and glowing scarlet flowers. A 

 native of Brazil, it needs care in winter ; 

 if in too low a temperature the roots 

 perish, and if too warm the plants become 

 weak and liable to red spider. The old 

 plan was to take cuttings in autumn and 

 winter them under glass, these plants 

 flowering earlier than the more vigorous 

 seedlings. From careful selection, how- 

 ever, there are now good early-flowering 

 varieties which come fairly true from 

 seed, and (except it be for a small stock of 

 the best named kinds) this is the best 

 means of increase. These forms are 

 vastly superior to the original plant, 

 which, besides being of ungainly habit, 

 had few and small flowers. 



Two kinds rising to a good height are 

 grandiflora and gigantea ; though Fanfare 

 and Feu de Joie are fairly tall, they begin 

 to flowerjearly ; Gloire de Stuttgart and 

 Rudolph Pfiitzer are shorter ; and Boule 



