«Berggarten» - Organic Salvia Seeds

Organic Salvia «Berggarten»

The silver toned foliage is considered to be among the finest of all the grey foliage plants. The leaves are a stunning rich, grey-blue with the angle of the leaves creating constantly changing depth, texture and hues of silver, white, and deep grey. Sometimes the leaves appear quite green, while other plants are very silver toned. New leaves are usually bright green, but age to the soft downy grey colour.

When grown in full sun the whole plant may take on a slight purple blush. The fragrant leaves reach up to 10 cm long, with an elliptical to ovate shape and veins visible as white lines. This sage rarely flowers, but when it does the blue-purple blooms are held on floral spikes in summer.

The name ‘Berggarten’ refers to ‘mountain garden’ and indicates the area in which this plant was grown on a German garden estate. This is an ornamental variety of culinary sage that was specially selected for its beauty. However, it performs very well as a culinary sage and is very flavourful and not bitter. It may be used in any recipe calling for sage and some say it tastes better than Common Garden Sage. Like the Common Sage, this variety has some potential health value and does well as a digestive aid.

Salvia ‘Berggarten’ is often short lived, but the fact that it rarely flowers extends its life. It prefers full sun and well drained soils. This plant is not fussy and the soil does not need to be high quality, but additional organic matter can be added. It is drought tolerant, with average water needs and a complete aversion to wet soil.

To promote healthy new growth and keep the plant tidy, prune regularly by 10-12cm. Be careful not to venture into the woody growth or the plant may not recover and may be too exposed during winter. To propagate, cuttings may be used. It also does well in containers, which may help the plant survive over winter.