Salvia patens ‘Patio Deep Blue’ seeds – (Gentian Sage)

Description

Salvia Patens  ‘Patio Deep Blue’ is a healthy , well-branched gentian sage which is  easy to grow and does not require much care. It is a  tuberous herbaceous perennial. It will  produce its deep blue flowers  continuously with good care and it is also tough and heat tolerant.

It forms a compact plant which  has large, attractive  long leaves that are oval  in shape, lightly hairy and bright green with margins which are serrated. The plant forms a  clump over time. Whorled tubular, two-lipped, hooded blue flowers appear from summer till frost. The blooms  are slightly hairy and are extremely attractive to bees.

This pretty salvia grows easily in sun or partial shade.  It will tolerate some drought once established, but it performs and blooms best when watered regularly during the growing season.   It can tolerate  temperatures a few degrees below freezing, but it really should be grown as an annual,  or lifted for winter protection where the temperatures become too low. If you remove dead flower spikes it will re-bloom for you. Plant clumps can be divided when they become thick. It can be used in containers, mixed borders and rock gardens.

Sowing advice

Sow indoors. Surface sow onto seed raising mix, do not cover seeds as they need light to germinate. Ideal temperature is  15-20°C. Keep moist but watch out for damping off. Germination usually occurs in 14-30 days. Prick out seedlings when large enough to handle to 8cm pots. Grow on, transplanting into larger pots as required. Acclimatise and plant out when danger of frost has passed with 45cm spacing