October Plant of the Month
The season for strawberries and cream has passed but this plant, also known as Autumn Sage, is still serving up plenty of flowers for late flying insects like bees and hoverflies.
This evergreen, shrubby salvia has been flowering since July in a pot placed in a sunny position next to my house wall. It’s now about 80cm high and wide and has had the occasional feed of liquid seaweed over the summer while I’ve been watering all my pots. It is fully hardy but prefers a sunny location and light, free draining soil.
The foliage on these shrubby salvias is aromatic – almost blackcurrant-like. But it is the flowers that tempted me into buying this plant a couple of years ago. Two tone pink and peachy cream. Unusual and more subtle than the popular Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ in red and white, a combination I’m not so keen on. ‘Hot Lips’ also has the tendency to revert to all white flowers in hot conditions. So far, ‘Strawberries and Cream’ has been consistently pretty in pink and cream.
