The plants in the genus Salvia are some of my favorite flowering plants. There are many colors and shapes to choose from when picking a plant for your garden.
Salvias are great pollinator plants – butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds love the flowers. Here are some of my favorites from my garden. All salvias mentioned below are perennial in USDA Hardiness Zone 7b.
Mexican salvia – Salvia leucantha
These purple and white flowers are fuzzy! Who could ask for more? They get about 3-4 feet tall and are bush-like. Perennial. Tolerant of a variety of soils but does not like wet feet. Read more about Mexican bush sage. Hardy in zones 7b to 10. Prefers full sun. Mexican salvia blooms in the fall.
Coral nymph – Salvia coccinea
These plants volunteered in my garden this past year (I didn’t plant them), but I love the color. Bicolor blooms of coral and white on shorter 2-foot spikes. They bloom for a long time and prefer full sun and good drainage. Hardy in zones 8 to 10.
Hot Lips Salvia – Salvia mycrophylla
These shrub-like sages are a favorite of the hummingbirds at my house. They get to be about 3-3.5 feet tall and equally as wide. Hot lips salvia grows in a shrub-like form and is perennial. Some of the flowers are pure red, some are red and white. They flower profusely. Full sun and well-drained soil. Hardy in USDA Zones 7 to 10. Can be grown in part shade but will have more flowers in full sun. They bloom from spring to the end of fall.
Indigo spires
Purple/blue flowers on tall spikes. Can be grown in part shade or full sun (prefers well-drained soil). In full sun, this plant can get very tall! The one in my backyard in full sun gets almost 6 feet tall, and the bees love it! This photo is from the one in my front yard that is in part shade. It is only about 3.5-4 feet tall but the bees love it too.
Black and Blue Salvia and Blue Anise Sage- Salvia guaranitica
This beautiful dark blue flower is a favorite of hummingbirds in my yard. They perch on plants close by and guard them against each other. There are often a lot of aerial acrobats going on around these in the summer.
Again, these blue flowering salvia are full sun and prefer well-drained soil. However, they can tolerate part shade and some moist soil – as long as they don’t sit in it for too long. These are tall plants – reaching heights of about 3-5 feet. Less bush-like than the hot lips salvia and not nearly as wide as the indigo spires. Hardy in zones 7 through 10.
Pineapple sage – Salvia elegans
The scent of the pineapple sage leaves when crushed is a bit like a pineapple – fresh and citrusy. The bright red flowers are a stunning addition to any garden and they last until fall. In particular, cloudless sulphur butterflies seem to really enjoy this plant as they migrate.
This plant grows about 4 or 5 feet tall and equally wide. It grows best in full sun and is hardy in zones 8 to 10.
