Salvia lanceolata - 1 litre pot
A favourite of mine which I love for its understated beauty, it's long season of interest, and because it’s different from most other Salvias. Forms a low, slow-growing, bushy evergreen shrub with silvery-green leaves…sounds unremarkable, but once it starts flowering it’s lovely (and it flowers for months and months too!). The flowers are best described as a warm rusty-pink colour, and are quite large, with limey-green calyces that turn a similar rusty colour as they age. The colours of this Salvia change throught the seasons, sometimes lovely soft tones and sometimes quite deep and intense, depending on position and the climatic colnditions. Does well in tough conditions (full sun, minimal fertiliser, good drainage), in its native habitat in South Africa it grows in sandy soils near the coast. Trim to shape after flowering if you need to and then leave it be. 60-80cm high x 60-80cm wide at maturity.