Our guide profiles the prettiest salvias to grow in gardens.
Some also have pretty foliage.
Most salvia plants are easy to grow, drought-tolerant, bloom abundantly, and look gorgeous in the landscape.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Use this guide to find the best salvia plants for growing in your garden.
This plant is aperennial that comes back each yearin areas where its hardy.
There are also annual and biennial types of salvias, and some are woody shrubs.
Credit: Jason Wilde
Itflowers profusely all summer, from late spring to frost, and tolerates periods of drought.
Its a great choice for borders and containers, plus its native to areas of North America.
The foliage has a faint anise scent.
Credit: Deb Wiley
Size:Up to 5 feet tall
Zones:810
Clary Sage
This is not your ordinary sage.
Its a key ingredient in many container-garden combinations,Thanksgiving stuffings, and even a few desserts.
The purplish, oblong leaves are intensely aromatic and may be used fresh or dried in cooking.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
It blooms in spring.
Zones:69
Variegated Sage
Heres another extra-attractive member of the culinary sage group.
Variegated sage (Salvia officinalisIcterina) features gray-green leaves irregularly edged in chartreuse.
Credit: John Sylvester
It produces purplish-blue flowers on spikes in late spring.
It displays silvery-green leaves edged in creamy white and blushed with purple.
Its an excellent salvia plant for growing as an annual in containers, especially in northern areas.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
It blooms in early spring.
Like most other salvias, it offers scented foliage, so deer and rabbits usually leave it alone.
Commonly called scarlet sage, this plant flowers all summer long and is great for containers.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
This salvia plant tolerates partial shade better than most varieties.
It willattract butterflies to your gardenfrom spring to fall.
Like other forms of blue salvia, it shines with silvery foliage and adapts to different soil types.
Credit: Susan A. Roth
Its a good selection for cutting and makes a beautiful accent when planted with deep blue flowers.
Its more compact than many other types of blue salvia and produces more flower spikes.
Expand yourgardens color combinationswith this plant; its flowers are several shades lighter than other blue salvias.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Its an excellentplant for attracting butterflies.
Contrast this varietys rich blue flowers and upright habit with a silvery skirt of trailinglicorice plant.
The medium green, hairy leaves are roughly triangular in shape with scalloped edges.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Adored by butterflies and hummingbirds, gardeners love this salvia for its low care requirements and brilliant blooms.
Its a top pick forattracting butterflies and hummingbirds.
Butterflies and hummingbirds love the 2-inch-long flowers with the brightest royalblue bloomsin the plant world.
Credit: David Goldberg
Get double the true-blue effect by growing gentian sage withleadwort.
It bears fuzzy green foliage on a well-branched, upright plant and blooms from summer to fall.
Create an easy-growing but delicate-looking combo with Blue Angel sage and Diamond Frosteuphorbia.
Credit: Bob Lenz
This stunner blooms from late summer to early fall.
Gray-green leaves that are up to 4 inches long are paired on this plants square stems.
This fast-growing,fragrant plantsupplies startlingly red flowers in late summer to fall.
Credit: Ed Gohlich
This biennial has lovely leaves the first year and then blooms withclusters of white flowersin summer the second year.
Its so lovely, many gardeners cut off the flowers to keep the focus on the foliage.
Make a bold impression by planting silver sage withcardoon, which also presents eye-catching silvery leaves.
Credit: David Speer
Ifdeadheaded, it reblooms.
Leaves of this mint family member are aromatic, wrinkled, soft, and fuzzy.
Like most salvia plants, its left alone by deer and rabbits and is along-lasting cut flower.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
May Night salvia and Pomegranateyarrowmake a fuss-free, long-blooming combination that butterflies adore.
The notched, wrinkled, medium-green to gray-green leaves are aromatic when bruised.
Grow East Friesland with Moonbeam coreopsis for a classic blue and yellowflower garden.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
This compact selection is perfect for the middle of a flower border.
For added contrast, plant this salvia with the daisy-shaped flowers of Pixie Meadowbritepurple coneflower.
Each bloom is marked with a kiss-shaped red marking.
Credit: Laurie Black
A fast-growing selection, Hot Lips looks great in beds, borders, and containers.
Plant it withlavenderto revel in a wonderful soft scent and bold, bright colors.
Its wonderfully heat- and drought-tolerant, bearing clusters of lavender-purple flowers all summer over evergreen silvery foliage.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Plant delicate whitegauranext to this salvia to add a graceful texture.
Raspberry Delight Salvia
One of the longest-blooming salvia plants is Raspberry Delight (SalviagreggiiRaspberry Delight).
It presents clusters of raspberry-red flowers all summer and fall.
Credit: Bill Stites
The aromatic foliage has a sweet herbal scent.
In addition, blue sage is a perfect planting partner for purple-leafed shrubs like Summer Wineninebark.
It has a compact habit and is a wonderful cut flower.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
This hybrid is one of the greatsalvias for shade.
Plant this salvia next to Black and Blue for acolorful cottage garden look.
In especially hot, dry areas, it may go dormant for the summer unless you keep it well-watered.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Add bright summer-long color by growing this sage with Oranges and Lemonsgaillardia.
It blooms, but the white summertime flowers arent particularly significant, although they do attract bees and butterflies.
If you dont deadhead it, Purple Knockout may self-seed, acting like a perennial groundcover.
Credit: Julie Mikos
To add more color to your garden, contrast this sages burgundy foliage with variegated Tequila Sunrisecoreopsis.
Extremely drought-tolerant, purple sage makes a lovely silver foliage accent innative plant gardens.
There are even edible versions used in seasonings.
Credit: Stephen Cridland
Most salvias are not considered invasive.
Lack of sunlight could cause salvias to delay flowering while too much sunlight could cause sunburn.
Credit: Mark Kane
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Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
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Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit: Ed Gohlich
