Salvia ‘Amistad’ has become a bit of a celebrity salvia in the past couple of years and with good reason.

It’s a relatively new cultivar with large velvety purple flowers that are made all the more startling by their near-black calyces and supporting stems. It’s quite tall at about 1.2m, which adds to its air of drama.

‘Amistad’ also has a long flowering season. This October ‘plant of the month’ has been flowering since May. I know it will succumb to a frost soon, but bees love the flowers and it’s good to provide them with a late season food plant. My plant is near Aster ‘Little Carlow’ (Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow’) and Verbena bonariensis in my border, so the bees have a feast laid out for them.

Sarah Raven names Salvia ‘Amistad’ on her short list of ‘desert island’ plants and Monty Don has been effusive about it on Gardener’s World. I have succumbed (as always with salvias) and used it in several planting schemes. It does come with a bit of a warning though; it is a tender perennial and don’t expect it to last a cold, wet winter without protection. I have packed in old fern fronds round the base of mine in the past with success however, until the frost arrives, I will just let Salvia ‘Amistad’ soak up the last rays of autumn sunshine and enjoy its sumptuous flowers.