From South Africa, people either love or hate this Salvia. I adore it!
Robin.
Salvia aurea 'Kirstenbosch'
Oh wow, that is very striking. Sure wish that would be growing in my garden.
Who wouldn't like it? It would be welcome in my garden anytime!
I've never seen anything like it! Thanks for sharing..nancy
Gorgeous!!!!!!!!
Yes, Christine Yeo describes it pungently aromatic, and I agree with that.
Robin.
I think the fragrance of my S Clevelandii is wonderful, especially after a rain. My husband and daughter don't seem to be able to smell it much at all unless they bury their nose in it. Funny how fragrance works....nancy
Well, I suppose that fragrance is in the nose of the beholder! I agree that S. clevelandii has a wonderful fragrance. Just wish I could get the bloody thing to flower here! I also love the fragrance of S. melissodora and S. keerlii, grapes?
Two new Salvias with stunning fragrances are S. gravida and S. oxyphora, though not everybody agrees.
I personally loathe the smell (can't call it fragrance) of S. myriantha and S. confertiflora, though both are beautiful plants. Myriantha is totally disgusting, and you must rinse your hands for some time to get rid of the smell!
A new introduction from Australia (which is probably a New World hybrid), known as Salvia pseudonutans, (which has nothing to do with S. nutans, more like uliginosa) also has a foul smell.
I actually find the smell of S. officinalis, the culinary sage, slightly unpleasant, but when used in cooking, the flavour and aroma are superb.
Robin.
Robin, I agree. S Officinalis doesn't do anything for me either. My S Clevelandii is still too tiny to bloom, but I'm holding out hope for later this summer. I happened to find two more small plants at the nursery so i have them in three different locations in the yard.That will help assure that at least one makes it to bloom i hope. nancy
I like the smell of S. clevelandii, but I could see that it might be an acquired taste for some people! Mine just started blooming in the last week or two and is very pretty, first year I've grown this one but since it's a CA native I decided to give it a try this year and so far it's doing great, grew like a weed during the spring and has all kinds of flowers on it now. My favorite salvia for scent though is S. dorisiana, smells sort of fruity and very nice! And has pretty flowers too which certainly doesn't hurt.
Where does everyone get these wonderful varieties? Here in Texas it is mainly S Greggii various kinds that I see in the nursery. Every once in a while something else pops up. I'm in a small town with not much selection(especially of unusual things)For example I found the S Clevelandii at an out of town nursery I was visiting. I read about the sale at Cabrillo(?) in California where so many of these are native, but wondered if there is a mail order source people have used. nancy
There are a couple other threads on the forum where people talk about mail order sources, I would check those out. Robin grows a lot of unusual ones so you probably won't find a lot of those, but some of the ones that other people are posting pics of you should be able to find at some of the mail order places.
I'll have seed to share this summer as soon as my newly planted plants start producing.
Sherry