Salvia farinacea Strata

Salvia farinacea 'Strata' is a new variety of sage that has been awarded by Fleuroselect for the innovative colouration of its flowering. From summer to autumn, it produces generous pale grey spikes adorned with bi-coloured flowers instead of solid ones. They boast a beautiful deep blue lip with a white tip, emerging from bracts covered in a very light velvet. The overall effect offers a particularly soft, bright, and refined colour combination. Seed-grown plants are compact and very uniform, making a great impression in sunny borders and containers. Perennial in its native lands, this sage is grown as an annual in most of our regions, except in warm areas.

Salvia farinacea is a perennial plant native to Texas and Mexico. Like all salvias, to the Lamiaceae family. Its limited hardiness and fast growth make it an excellent annual in most of our climates. The 'Strata' cultivar has an upright and bushy habit, forming tufts measuring 45cm (18in) tall when in flower with a spread of 40cm (16in). The plant forms bouquets of somewhat purplish stems covered in fuzz and adorned with slightly greyish dark green foliage. The lanceolate leaves are aromatic when crushed. They are slightly toothed, and covered on the underside with a whitish fuzz. From June to October, erect and flexible spikes appear, covered in small white hairs. The spikes are adorned with bilabiate flowers of an intense blue highlighted with white. Mealycup sages get their name from their stems covered in a light bloom.

'Strata' will be perfect in a border, planted with roses, marigolds, fuchsia-coloured shrubby salvias, or rudbeckias. It will enhance large-flowered peonies, emphasising their romantic side. It can also be combined with grasses (pennisetum, stipa), gauras, and the silvery foliage of wormwoods. Easily create a beautiful blue and yellow scene by pairing it with Heliomeris 'Sunsplash', a very floriferous small sunflower. Also consider zinnias and South African daisies (arctotis, osteospermum) in shades of pink and orange to accompany its blue spikes. This plant can be used to edge pathways. It can be planted among silver mound (Cerastium tomentosum), which will carpet its base in a gentle harmony of muted tones. It will create beautiful displays in containers on patios, with anthemis or diascias, for example. Its lavender-like spikes hold up well in a vase.