Salvia reptans 'West Texas Form'

The Salvia reptans 'West Texas Form' is a superb perennial sage native to the Texan mountains, known for its erect habit and remarkably colourful cobalt blue flowering. This rare cultivar delights with its fluid and light silhouette that comes alive in late summer with a mist of small flowers that catch the eye. Very useful in a garden without irrigation, perfect in rockeries, this plant is also hardy, rather accommodating and thrives in ordinary garden soil if properly drained. 

The Salvia reptans (synonym S.leptophylla) 'West Texas Form' was discovered in Texas in the Davis Mountains at an altitude of 1200m (3937ft). Like all salvias, it belongs to the lamiaceae family. Instead of spreading its vegetation on the ground like the usual type, this cultivar forms upright stems that assemble into a vigorous clump that will rise to 90cm (35in) or 1m (3ft) above the ground at flowering time. Its stems bear thin green leaves like needles, aromatic when crushed. Flowering begins in September and continues until the first frosts. At the tips of the leafy stems, loose spike-like inflorescences appear. The bilabiate flowers measure about 1cm (0in) and are intensely blue in colour. Honey-bearing and nectar-bearing, they are highly prized by butterflies and bees. 

The Salvia 'West Texas Form' is hardy enough to be planted in many regions, provided it benefits from well-drained soil. It excels on dry slopes, in rockeries, and in borders. For example, associate it with gauras, the Sunset Boulevard evening primrose, the Erigeron karvinskianus, and Californian poppies. Also, combine it with old roses and Nepeta faassenii, rose campions Lychnis coronaria, and light grasses (Stipa, Calamagrostis). Its uniquely blue flowers complement the stars of asters and stand out beautifully against the autumn foliage of Cotinus and spindle trees.

With over 900 species of annuals, perennials, and shrubs, distributed worldwide except in very cold regions and the tropical forest, the genus Salvia is the most diverse in the lamiaceae family. The name Salvia, dating back to Roman times, derives from the Latin salvus 'healthy' in reference to the medicinal properties of common sage.