• Image of Salvia guaranitica 'Van Remsen'taken at Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC by JLBG
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Salvia guaranitica 'Van Remsen'

Van Remsen Anise Sage

3 Reviews
| 1 answered question

Item #: 8363

Zones: 7a to 10b, at least

Dormancy: Winter

Height: 84" tall

Culture: Sun

Origin: Argentina, Brazil

Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)


$20.00
$20.00
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Salvia 'Van Remsen' is an amazing hummingbird favorite that makes a stunning 7' tall clump that doesn't run. That's right, great height and no running...ranks up there with "tastes great and less filling." Rich green leaves adorn this amazing giant that rockets skyward when grown in rich soil. The green stems are clothed in large 6" long x 5" wide, dark green leaves, then topped, starting in late May, with spikes of cobalt blue flowers...a stunning garden specimen and favorite of high-flying hummingbirds. Salvia 'Van Remsen', a probable hybrid of Salvia guaranitica 'Brazil' x Salvia guaranitica 'Costa Rica', was discovered in James Van Remsen's Louisiana garden and later named and distributed by the late salvia guru Rich Dufresne.

Maintenance:

Salvia guarantica needs to be cut to the ground after frost ends its six month floral display and the stems are dead. This is about the only maintenance it needs. Salvia guaranitca can also be cut to the ground in late summer if it has gotten shabby. It will soon regrow, resume blooming, and look fresh up to fall. This is usually only "necessary" in areas with a long growing season. The plant doesn't mind looking shabby, but the tidy gardener might prefer the refreshed plant.

Selections of Salvia guarantica vary from clump forming to spreading. The spreading forms are not recommended for small gardens but are superb for large ones, especially where large masses of weed-excluding masses are desired. The clump forming ones are not necessarily small plants but they stay put and die away to the same crown each winter.

Growing Conditions:

Adaptability is the nature of this salvia, Salvia guaranitica. It thrives in all day full sun to bright shade. It grows well in wet soils to average moisture soils and tolerates fairly dry soils. Though excessively dry soils will not produce a worthwhile display.

Garden Value:

True blue flowers are produced from spring to frost and they are highly favored by hummingbirds. These two features are enough reason to grow it. Hummingbirds will fight over this plant. It might even warrant the name of Hummingbird Sage. Yes, we know what you have been told about hummingbirds and the color red.

Salvia guaranitica is generally avoided by deer and rabbits as are most members of the mint family. The genus Salvia is one of 236 genera in the Lamiaceae, the mint family.

Nomenclature:

Salvia guaranitica is sometimes called Salvia coerulea.