Salvia 'Serenade'

Low maintenance, long blooming and dry tolerant with excellent, upright structure. The lilac florets are extra long, stretching to 20cm along the stems.

The tall stems of lilac florets are useful to create lasting, vertical interest in the garden. The blooms endure from early summer to late autumn and even beyond. The flowers open on dark stems which adds to the beauty of the plant.

Salvia 'Serenade' was developed by legendary plants person and garden designer, Piet Oudolf.

They average 6 weeks through summer, then with a mid season prune (or regular dead heading) and some fertiliser, they can rise again and last until frost.

The lower stems have attractive, mid-sized, deep green, fragrant foliage with a wrinkly texture. These Woodland Salvias are more shade tolerant than most, though they tend to flower better with a good dose of sun.

Salvias have so much to offer gardeners and there is an ever increasing, impressive array to choose from.

Salvias are strong performers in both gardens and pots. Birds, bees and other beneficial insects will flock to them, their long flowering period is a great boon.

Grow Salvias in a sunny location in well drained soil. They are dry tolerant once established and look wonderful in beds, borders or dry gardens. They have a vigorous growth and are easy care, with solid heat tolerance and frost resistance. Remove spent flowers to encourage even more blooms and extend your season. They are quite frost hardy but if you get hard frosts they will likely benefit from a mulch, especially while establishing.

Salvia sylvestris Syn. S. nemorosa, commonly known as Woodland Sage. It is a cross of S. sylvestris/nemorosa and S. pratensis.