Garden and Flowers

Some plants are no longer cultivated as individual items, but rather are enjoyed for their collective effect in a planting scheme. Scores of plants of the same species are put close together to form a specific color zone. Salvia splendens is a clear favorite in this kind of gardening, and the plants used for it tend to be about 8-12 in high.

At one time, nearly all the specimens of Salvia splendens on sale had either red or white flowers. Nowadays, however, they are available with flowers in numerous colors, including pink and mauve, and some plants have bicolored flowers. Cultivars with unusual colors are available in very small quantities from florists and more generally from seed merchants.

Salvia splendens comes from Brazil and cannot tolerate any frost at all. You should therefore wait until May before planting it out-of-doors in nutritive, well-drained soil, preferably in a sunny position.

Professional growers start sowing by the end of January, since it still takes these annuals at least three months to come into flower. Amateurs would be well advised to delay sowing until the end of February at the earliest in order to take advantage of the greater intensity of light. Salvia splendens needs light to germinate and the seed should not, therefore, be covered.

Sow in a closed propagator or a tray covered with glass or plastic. The seeds germinate best in tropical conditions. At 68-71 °F, the ideal temperature for germination is somewhat high. After germination, the seedlings may be grown on in slightly cooler conditions, but not below about 57 °F. If the temperature is too low, the foliage will turn yellow.

There are many cultivars of Salvia splendens on the market. They mostly vary in color. All the major seed merchants cultivate their own series, which are sold as “very early flowering” or “very compact.” The continual recurrence of very similar names is of little use to plant lovers. There are cultivars of Salvia splendens in shades of bright red, deep red, purple, pink, old-rose, salmon pink, cream, and white. Some flowers are multicolored.

Salvia splendens ‘Flamcx 2000′ is one of the innumerable red cultivars. At a maximum height of 8 in, it remains very compact. The bracts of Salvia splendens ‘Salsa Salmon Bicolor’ are a buttery yellow with salmon pink, whereas the flowers themselves are shaded from pink to white. Tubular flowers of that kind may grow to over 2 in long - and that on a small plant about 8 in high.

Salvia splendens ‘Sizzler’ grows more vigorously and has large healthy leaves. Its flowers are deep purple.

Salvia splendens ‘Sizzler White’ is the white counterpart of the previous cultivar.