Plant of the month: Salvia leucantha

This is my favourite salvia and one of my favourite perennials, being long-flowering from late summer through to winter and easy to maintain with gorgeous colour.

I planted one in spring against my fence and it’s already rewarding me with long spires of flowers and another flush of blooms on its way. Both leaves and flowers are on the warm side of the colour spectrum, so it works well against red bricks or my maroon-coloured fence. It also creates a nice contract with cool-hued plants, like here at Carlton Gardens with the agave in the background.

Salvias are also easy to propagate! The lovely Hannah Maloney has a great how-to over at Good Life Permaculture.

Plant info

• Botanical name: Salvia leucantha

• Common name: Mexican bush sage

• Family: Lamiaceae

• Origin: Mexico

• Uses: Autumn/winter colour, beneficial insects

Growing notes

• Type: Herbaceous perennial

• Light: Full sun to part shade

• Water: Medium

• Care: Prune hard after flowering and frost has passed to promote density. You can also wait until spring when new shoots have appeared at the base for quicker regrowth and so there’s less of a gap in a planting.