Salvia verticillata Hannays Blue

The Salvia verticillata 'Hannay's Blue' is a beautiful improvement of the Whorled Sage. More compact and more floriferous, this plant produces dense spikes of small light blue-violet flowers throughout the summer, nestled in purple bracts, and arranged in staggered crowns along almost black stems. Its leaves, larger than those of the type, are a beautiful dark purple-green. This herbacious, sturdy and very hardy perennial plant is very easy to grow in ordinary, but well-drained soil and in the sun, forming a beautiful blanket for poor soils and slightly wild areas of the garden.

The Salvia verticillata is a herbaceous perennial plant with horizontal rhizomes native to southern and central Europe, and western Asia. It grows spontaneously along roadsides, on barren hillsides, most often on limestone soil. This plant, like all salvias, belongs to the family Lamiaceae or labiates. The variety 'Hannay's Blue', of rapid growth, forms a compact clump, at least 20 cm (8in) high and 50 cm (20in) wide, composed of large triangular and deeply veined leaves, with crenate-dentate edges, slightly hairy and a dark green in colour, sometimes tinged with red on the edges. The flowers give off an odor when crushed that may be unpleasant. Flowering, nectariferous and honey-producing, occurs from June to September provided that faded flowers are regularly removed. The flower stalks, purple-violet, are 50 cm (20in) tall and branched. These are branching square-section stems, bearing small leaves and flowers grouped in whorls, forming clusters of lilac-coloured flowers in the upper part of the stems. Its hardiness is excellent in healthy and well-drained soil. The plant spreads slowly through its rhizome and easily self-seeds in light soil, without retaining the characteristics of the mother plant.

The 'Hannay's Blue' whorled sage is vigorous enough to outcompete weeds. It excels in natural flower beds, on slopes, where it helps to stabilize with its deep anchoring roots, allowing it to draw moisture even during heatwaves. Therefore, this plant perfect for maintaining the soil of rockeries or banks near water sources. It is a very resistant plant, tolerating periods of drought once well-established, even if the beauty of its foliage suffers, and growing conditions are spartan. This plant tolerates limestone well, and even grows on chalky hillsides, and can endures harsh winters without weakening. In flower beds, associate it with clary sage, common sage, along with old roses and Nepeta x faassenii, lychnis coronaria.

With over 900 species of annuals, perennials, and woody shrubs distributed around the globe, except for very cold regions and tropical forests, the genus Salvia is the richest variety in the Lamiaceae family.