Salvia sclarea v. turkestanica

Pictured here on the right with Phlomis russeliana on the left.

I was so pleased last summer when this plant finally bloomed in the garden. Acting like a hardy biennial, the plant forms a rosette of light green, large, ovate, coarsely hairy leaves in the first year. In the second year, tall, branched, pyramidal-shaped, inflorescences are formed on strong stems from June to October. The flowering stems reached about a meter here in an extremely dry site in full sun. The buds alone were worth the wait. Looking very much like large pale pink and green shrimp, they grew longer and fatter and then turned upright as they opened. The flowers are in whorls of 2-6 and have a hooded, lilac/blue upper lip with a white lower lip surrounded by persistent and conspicuous, pinkish lilac, papery bracts which make the plant so attractive. (insert photo of the bud)

I propagated the plant by seed but noticed that some plants did survive after flowering and there were also a few 'volunteers' around the mother plant. Listed as hardy to - 10 0C, I found it much hardier, living comfortably in our Zone 5A garden (-23 0C to -29 0C).

Native throughout Southern Europe, SouthWest and Central Asia, it is the source of oil known commercially as Clary oil or Muscatel sage and is used mainly as a fragrant fixative in the perfume industry. In the past it was also used as a culinary herb and sometimes as a substitute for hops in beer. It also is used as an ingredient in Italian vermouth.