Douglas Justice’s blog this month, August 2016 in the Garden | UBC Botanical Garden, describes several salvia species planted at the Entrance Plaza. It look me so long to get out here that I thought they would all be past bloom, but there were flowers to see, and some nice leaves too. Of the Old World sages Douglas mentioned, most are really past blooming. Here is Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurea’ (the label says ‘Purpurascens’, which I see is supposed to be a synonym), easily recognized by the purplish leaves and S. officinalis ‘Berggarten’, with leaves more round than the others. Salvia forsskaolii still does have flowers, though it can flower as early as June. The third photo is from the Asian Garden. Of New World sages Douglas mentions, only S. guaranaitica ‘Black and Blue’ has flowers now. I’m pretty sure the first photos are this cultivar. The second photo is the plant in front, with larger leaves and no flowers, but the sign is at this plant, so maybe these are the same cultivar? This one has great stems that totally make up for its having no flowers. Salvia elegans ‘Honey Melon’ Pineapple Sage has such great leaves and hairy stems, it doesn’t need flowers to look interesting. Salvia discolor looks like it might have flowers just starting (third photo, just right of centre), though again, the white leaf backs and calyces make such a striking contrast with the leaves that there’s plenty to look at without the flowers. There are other salvia flowers on the entrance plaza. I'll show a few in another posting.
Here are a few Salvia on the entrance plaza that were not mentioned in the blog. Salvia nemorosa ‘Rose Queen’, I think an old world hybrid. Salvia ‘Maraschino’, red flowers; seems to be based on a hybrid with new world parents. Salvia ‘Ultra Violet’, with a common name of Texas Sage, so would be new world
Salvia look-alikes – Maybe I’m the only person who would be fooled by these plants, but when I was walking around the entrance plaza looking for Salvia, I checked out these. Lepechinia salviae – at least the name implies that it looks like salvia and the common name is Chilean pitcher sage. Lobelia siphilitica – OK, the three lobes at the bottom of the flowers are distinctive for Lobelia. Penstemon, don’t know what cultivar. Could it be ‘Sour Grapes’??
