120 The Flower Garden [Chapter 



Salvias (Flowering Sage) 



IT is surprising how seldom one sees the Salvia 

 grown to any considerable extent outside the 

 public gardens and parks, though no other flower can 

 compare with it in richness of colour and freedom of 

 bloom, but there seems to be an impression that it 

 must be purchased from a florist or grown from cut- 

 tings. Salvia is much more desirable for bedding 

 than for any other purpose. In the house it is subject 

 to attacks of red spider, which make it more trouble 

 to care for than it is worth, while in the open ground 

 it is remarkably healthy and free from insect pests. 



Seed should be started early in flats or hotbed, and 

 plants set out where they are to remain, when all dan- 

 ger of frost is past, as they are very sensitive to cold. 

 Muck or marsh earth seems the most congenial soil 

 in which to grow the Salvias, and if this is supplied 

 they will need little care beyond watering during the 

 summer. 



I have grown the Salvia splendens the usual 

 height of which is about two and a half feet to 

 a uniform height of five feet in a bed of marsh earth, 

 with a supply of water from a pipe, keeping it con- 

 stantly moist. They will do well in the hottest situa- 

 tion if well supplied with water, and even better in 

 partial shade the foliage being a deeper green and 

 the colour of the blossoms richer and more velvety 

 than when exposed to full sunlight. For years I have 



