 | In preschool, children learn that plants have green leaves unless local weather causes foliage to change color in autumn. Yet foliage comes in many colors, including a variety of cool grays, shimmering silvers and greens so pale that they almost look white. This is true for many drought-resistant Salvias (true sages) and companion plants covered with fine white hairs that help them to conserve moisture. Some are so dense with hairs that they feel velvety. Foliage shapes and sizes of these waterwise plants vary from inch-long ellipses to 4-foot-long, saber-like blades. Geographical diversity is characteristic of both the Salvias and their companion plants. They come from islands and inland deserts, from lowlands and high mountains, and from many regions around the world, such as:
Gray and silver foliage -- in all its many varieties -- brighten shady gardens, cool down hot reds and oranges, harmonize with pastels, add shimmer to darker green foliage and reflect moonlight beautifully. At Flowers by the Sea, we offer many choices to shine in your garden. |
(Waverly Sage) A pale pink to lavender blush adds delicate color to the white flowers of Waverly Sage, which are supported by plum-colored calyxes. Its mid-green leaves are lance shaped and veined.
(Rocketman Russian Sage) A cloud of cool, lavender-blue flowers shoot upward from the fine-leafed, gray-green foliage of Salvia yangii ‘Rocketman’. This is a shorter, more upright form of Russian Sage, which was known botanically as Perovskia atriplicifolia until 2019 when the species was reclassified as a Salvia.