Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  Perennial Salvia, Meadow Clary, Meadow Sage

Group/Class:  Feathers Series

Brand:  Concept Plants

Description:

Lovely purple-blue flower spikes with burgundy calyces bloom all season long; an airy and elegant addition to borders or beds with its compact and bushy form; looks fantastic in containers; heat and drought tolerant; great pollinators; low maintenance

Ornamental Features

Feathers Peacock Salvia has masses of beautiful spikes of purple flowers with blue overtones and burgundy calyces rising above the foliage from late spring to mid fall, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its fragrant lobed leaves remain dark green in colour throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Feathers Peacock Salvia is an herbaceous annual with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Feathers Peacock Salvia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Feathers Peacock Salvia will grow to be about 16 inches tall at maturity extending to 22 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 12 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 10 inches apart. Although it's not a true annual, this plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Feathers Peacock Salvia is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.