Ornamental sage: the professionals’ tougher alternative to lavender

Anyone who wants to avoid constant watering in summer yet still enjoy a vibrant, colourful flower bed buzzing with insects will often choose lavender. Landscape designers, however, have long favoured another plant that does all of this even better. It is tougher, flowers for longer and acts like a magnet for bees and bumblebees – while remaining almost astonishingly easy to look after.

Professional gardeners’ favourite: ornamental sage as the quiet star of the perennial border

Often standing inconspicuously in a pot between bags of bark mulch and shelves of fertiliser, perennial ornamental sage (Salvia) nevertheless regularly finds its way into professionals’ trolleys. Many people know sage only as a culinary herb or a tea for sore throats. In a border, though, it reveals an entirely different character: an exceptionally resilient yet highly decorative perennial.

Modern perennial sage grows in neat, clearly defined clumps, bringing order and depth to planting schemes. Its upright flower spikes add both structure and colour to front gardens, rock gardens and naturalistic meadow strips.

Non-stop flowers: how sage transforms bed edges from spring onwards

As soon as the soil warms up in spring, sage gets underway. It puts on strong new growth and sends up slender flower spikes that rise clearly above the foliage. Depending on the variety, they shine in:

• deep royal blue