(Crimson Sage) Abundant and long blooming, the bright red tubular flowers of Salvia henryi attract hummingbirds and form a pretty contrast with fuzzy, silvery foliage. This is a long blooming sage that is made for gritty soils, such as sandy loam.

 

(Variegated Japanese Woodland Sage) Irregular white margins surrounding deep green make the triangular leaves of this fine Japanese forest sage lighten the shade. In fall, pale yellow flowers add to the standout effect.

(Woolly White Sage) Salvia candidissima has tidy, upright stems covered with whorls of creamy white blossoms shaped like tiny parrot beaks. They rise from a mid-green rosette of leaves that become fuzzier and whiter as summer heat increases.

(Kyushu Woodland Sage) We are in love with this short forest sage from Kyushu, Japan. Its clusters of large creamy flowers pale as fresh-churned butter begin blooming in September. Even when not blooming, its foliage is showy in a shady garden.

(Makino) The unusual flower color and short, mounding growth of this clone of Salvia glabrascens -- a woodland Japanese native -- make it distinctive. The blossoms are nearly clear yellow with striking purple beelines.

(Fruit Sage) Also known as Apple Sage or Cretean Sage, this is an extremely drought-resistant plant. Its common names come from the small round fruit-like galls that an insect creates on its branches on the island of Crete where it is native to dry slopes.

(Lancelot Wooly Canary Island Sage) Salvia canariensis ‘Lancelot’ has lavender flowers shaped like parrot beaks that are surrounded by deep rosy-lavender bracts.

(Bolivian Fuchsia) Hummingbirds love the clusters of long, thin, intensely red tubular flowers dangling from the blue-green foliage of Fuchsia boliviana. Its lance-shaped leaves are attractively ribbed.

(Shangri-la Sage) Take a close look at Salvia moorcroftiana x indica ‘Shangri-la’ and you’ll notice that its lavender flowers have lighter lower lips with deep purple freckles.

(Nan dan shen) Lavender and pearly white blossoms shaped like parrot beaks are supported by burgundy and green calyxes on this cold-tolerant plant from Southern China. In summer, the flowers grow in whorl-like clusters on spikes reaching up to 5 feet tall above large, fuzzy, pinnate, olive-green leaves.