Salvia x sylvestris Bazuin Dark Night 'Sabadate' - Clary sage

Salvia x sylvestris Bazuin® Dark Night 'Sabadate' is a perennial sage perfect for bringing rhythm and colour to the garden throughout summer. Compact, floriferous and easy-going, it produces deep violet-blue spikes in waves from spring to autumn. Its aromatic, blue-green foliage forms a dense, well-branched clump that maintains a neat appearance both in borders and containers. It is a very hardy, drought-tolerant and nectar-rich, generous, trouble-free and unpretentious plant.

Salvia x sylvestris Bazuin® Dark Night is a recent variety of wood sage, resulting from horticultural cross-breeding between European and Asian forms of Salvia. Selected in 2020 by Bazuin Nursery in the Netherlands, it stands out for its dark violet-blue flower spikes borne on purple-tinted stems, and its aromatic, finely textured blue-green foliage. Its compact and bushy habit forms a dense, regular clump approximately 50 cm tall (in flower) and 30-40 cm wide. Flowering begins in May-June and continues in successive waves until autumn, especially if care is taken to deadhead spent spikes during the season. The tubular flowers are grouped in short, dense spikes, highly attractive to bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. The foliage is semi-evergreen in winter, persisting as a basal rosette until the following spring. The lanceolate, dentate and slightly rough leaves release a pleasant fragrance when crushed. With good disease resistance, this perennial is hardy down to –20 °C.

The Bazuin® Dark Night sage is an excellent perennial for border edges and flowering containers. It withstands wind, frost, heat and adapts to poor soils. Its dark violet-blue flowering boasts a rich density of colour, particularly effective for highlighting lighter blooms, such as those of white gaura, anthemis or scabious. In a naturalistic-style garden, it pairs well with soft grasses like Pennisetum ‘Hameln’. It also works wonderfully in English-style mixed borders, alongside landscape roses and nepeta. It is a resilient, elegant and easy perennial of character that fits into many garden styles.

With over 900 species of annuals, perennials and soft-wooded bushes, found across the globe except in very cold regions and the tropical forest, the Salvia genus is the largest in the Lamiaceae family. The name Salvia, dating back to Roman times, derives from the Latin salvus meaning "healthy", alluding to the medicinal virtues of common sage.