Playing Favorites

Fer of My Little Garden in Japan is hosting a blog carnival this month on Blotanical. 

She has invited garden bloggers to share a little bit about their favorite plant.

My first thought was, oh, that's easy!  
It's Salvia greggii (a/k/a Autumn Sage).  

But the more I thought about it, 

I started to feel sorry for my other perennials.  

 What about 'Henry Duelberg' Salvia with those deep blue blooms that the Monarchs just love?

  

 Or what about my favorite ornamental grass, Miscanthus sinensis 'Adagio'?  

So much bang for the buck!

 And what about all of those 

Japanese maples in beautiful autumn color? 

Or what about -- hey, this list could go on forever!!   

H'm...maybe this is not as easy as I thought it would be.

Though all of my perennials have some redeeming quality

(or I suppose they wouldn't be in my garden at all), 

I must pick one for this post.

So going with my first instinct, the winner is...

Salvia greggii .... 

my favorite perennial -- AMONG MANY!

(I sure hope 'Henry' and 'Adagio' don't hold it against me!)

And what's not to love about it!?  

Salvia greggii ...

• Is a native Texas perennial -- and a very drought-tolerant one!  
• It blooms from March until November.  
• There are no disease or pest issues with it.  
• Hummingbirds love them.   
• They come in lots of colors (red, purple, varying shades of pink, white, coral).  Hot pink just happens to be my favorite color for this salvia.

Salvia greggii and ornamental grasses make great companions.

Salvia greggii with Lindheimer's Muhly grass and Mexican Feathergrass

Salvia greggii with Black Fountain Grass 'Moudry'

Salvia greggii with another fave, 'Adagio'

 And Salvia greggii also pairs nicely with other 

perennials in my garden

Salvia greggii with Mexican Bush Sage, Fall Aster, Russian Sage

Salvia greggii starts blooming early, shown here with Bee Balm, 
Summer Phlox, and our friend  
'Henry Duelberg' Salvia

I also love the gray/green foliage of 'Helen von Stein' Lamb's Ear 

 next to Salvia greggii

Salvia greggii fits the bill in the low-maintenance department, too!   

In mid-February, I cut it down to about 12 inches tall in order to keep it growing strong, full, and compact.   (Without this annual pruning, it can become woody and rangey looking)

  It grows to about 2 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide.  

If the blooms slow during the season, I just give it a couple-inch "haircut" 

to encourage another flush of blooms.

All it asks from you is plenty of sun and well-drained soil :-)

If it has one tiny drawback, it is that it is not hardy north of Zone 7, so my apologies to my blogging friends in the north.   But we can't grow those sweet smelling lilacs here in the south, so I guess that makes us even :-)

 If low-maintenance and long-blooming are characteristics you are searching for in a perennial, then I think Salvia greggii might just become one of your favorites, too!

Until next time...

Toni :-)