Blossoming sages can be found in the prealpine meadows as well as in the grassy and dry areas of the Mediterranean coasts, from Brazil to the American prairies, from Malta to England. They also exist in Asia, from the Middle East to Japan. Wild or nurtured, sage has become part of every garden.
Orticolario and CREA
CREA from Sanremo presents the collection created and managed by Claudio Cervelli and coordinated by Barbara Ruffoni who, through numerous publications and the book “Salvie. Caratteristiche, usi e coltivazione” (“Sages. Characteristics, uses and cultivation”), continues to maintain a unique and exclusive collection of species and varieties.
Two collections show the richness of a genus and the long research work:
the tropical Salvia displayed inside the exhibition “Salvia immortalis” in Serra Platani Lario Wing, and the Mediterranean Salvia, more or less rustic in the Mediterranean climate, which animate the Park’s flowerbeds.
The tropical sages
A collection that also shows many species that have always been used to treat various conditions affecting men. Many sages have aromatic leaves with fruity, balsamic or bitter tones, from which essential oils are obtained with antimicrobial properties known since ancient times, so much to have made herbal and medicinal use possible over millennia. Today they are also used in the agronomic field (for biological control on other crops), or as antioxidants and flavoring in the food industry.
Among the sages on display: Salvia leucophylla, from Baja California, features a candid aromatic green and rosy inflorescences, an evergreen shrub, a collector’s pearl. Salvia dolomitica is a strong shrub that grows well and quickly. The silver leaves, with an intense perfume, accompany the luxuriant summer bloom, when grown in the open ground and in a hot climate.
The Mediterranean sages
An amazing collection not only because of the exceptional diversity of shapes, colors, sizes and types of inflorescences of the numerous species, but also for the remarkable variability and ornamental value of the leaves, which often adds to the flowers’ one.
Among the sages on display: Salvia buchananii, (Buchanan’s sage), a species of likely Mexican origin, with thin and herbaceous stems. It is interesting for the showy blossoming and the excellent yield in flowerbeds, even in semi-shade, and resists a few degrees below zero in winter. Salvia madrensis is spectacular and rare, impressive, with a yellow flower producing curious inflorescences up to 2 m high. It is suited to hot climates, and that is why at Orticolario it is exhibited indoor.
Orticolario and Florensis
Orticolario 2018 hosts the Florensis collection of sages.
Florensis is a family-owned Dutch company founded in 1941, with a worldwide reputation as a producer of young plants for professional plant growers. They produce over 900 million young seedlings and cuttings every year.
The collection chosen for Orticolario includes ornamental flowering species, such as the series of Salvia farinacea ‘Sullyfun’, Salvia nemorosa with a unique collection of 13 varieties belonging to the Sensation® selection, and flower bed sages, such as the splendens and superba and the sages of the Wish selection. The collection of aromatic sages is also rich and includes Salvia officinalis and Salvia elegans (pineapple-scented sage). The collection has been nurtured by Floricoltura Pironi, who have worked with Orticolario for many years.
The Florensis collection for Orticolario includes
Salvia argentea ‘Artemis’ (silver sage), a beautiful perennial with silvery-woolly leaves. It is a popular plant, chosen both for its fine, woolly and soft foliage, and for its flowering. In its second year of cultivation, it forms impressive peaks up to 1 meter appearing from rosettes of leaves that die shortly thereafter.
Typical among the summer sages is Salvia nemorosa Sensation® ‘Medium Deep Blue’. The Sensation® series shows all its qualities both to professional growers and to the final consumer. In the gardens, from year to year, these plants show their full potential: powerful growth and sensational blooms, from deep blue to white.
The elegant Salvia ‘Black and Bloom’ is only one of many examples of sage hybrids on the market that enrich contemporary productions and gardens.
Salvia roemeriana. It grows in the southern part of North America and was introduced in Europe as early as 1852. Since it survives only in temperate climates, in our area it has always been considered an annual plant. However, in recent years, this species has experienced a renewed interest and thanks to its attractive and bright red flowers it is now part of the range of flower bedding for summer blooms.
Orticolario and Green Service
Daniele Spinelli managed to group all the varieties of Salvia hybrida of the Wish selection. A unique selection and an Australian genetic line that aims at continuously providing new supporting elements to the Australian Make-A-Wish Foundation for children affected by rare diseases. Daniele has collected over time the varieties of this collection, such as ‘Ember’s Wish’™ and ‘Wendy’s Wish’. Averagely vigorous and very floriferous garden sages that extend their flowering period from late May to cold months.
The sages in “The Sage Temple”
The officinalis, purpurea, tricolor and icterina sages present themselves and make themselves heard in the DehOr space “The Sage Temple”, an installation presented in May in France, at the “Journées des Plantes de Chantilly”, and that appears in its autumn version at Orticolario 2018.