This new shrubby salvia, developed by a leading British expert, is special in both its looks in how easy it is to grow
Mexican shrubby salvias have moved from the slightly exotic firmly into the mainstream in the last thirty years. One of the leading lights in this development has been Will Dyson, who founded his nursery, Dyson’s Salvias, twenty five years ago.
As well as promoting these invaluable twiggy sun lovers, he’s also developed many new introductions. ‘Wine and Roses’ looks to represent another significant step forward.
There are two sides to its value. Firstly, there’s the colour. The flowers are a striking two-tone, red and purple combination.
And it gets better... the larger lower lip changes colour from bright red to soft pink almost to blushed white, in some cases, as the flowers mature.
The result is a range of tones all shining in the same flower spike at the same time.
William Dyson describes the other special features of this plant:
“I was very impressed by its upright habit, its hardiness and its ability to regenerate from low down after a hard winter.
“‘Wine & Roses’ is the result of a cross between one of my earlier hybrids ‘Lalarsha’ (with rosy purple flowers) and a very floriferous
microphylla type known as ‘Maraschino’ (cherry red). I had been trialling it for a number of years before I released it in 2019. It is proving to be very popular and is now widely available.”
Along with
Sedum takesimense Atlantis and
Osteospermum Zion Purple Sun, Salvia microphylla 'Wine and Roses' and is one of the three most widely available new additions to the 2020 RHS Plant Finder.
You can order plants of
Salvia microphylla 'Wine and Roses' from
Dyson’s Nurseries and from these
RHS Plant Finder nurseries.
Please note, the contents of this blog reflect the views of its author and do not constitute an official endorsement by the RHS.
