Saturday, November 13, 2010

Salvia splendens 'Van Houttei'

This is one of those plants that we've been conditioned to sneer at, to dismiss condescendingly as something the riffraff of the red ! states might plant around their trailers. Still, when I saw it growing amongst the more prestigious Salvias (GrayC grows umpteen taxa in the Herb Garden and many spend the winter as 4" pots in Poly 7) it stood out...not in a bad way. I feel like the color is better than many/most of the other S. splendens cultivars; more crimson than scarlet. I tend to like my reds cool. It has occasionally been accorded specific status but is generally considered a selection of the species splendens. It is thought to be closer to the straight species than most of the cultivars.

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