Lisa Stanley's Favorite Plant: Greggii Salvia
Anna Montgomery
What are the superstar plants that shine with little or no care? Which plants are the best investment of time and money? What plant is the favorite plant of each of our Stanley's plant specialists (avid gardeners themselves)?
I posed these questions to Lisa Stanley, and she immediately said greggii (pronounced greg-ee-eye) salvia and enumerated all her reasons why:
- The clear blue-red of her favorite greggii, Furman's red, does not clash with any color Lisa has tried
- Once established, greggii is the closest to a "plant once and walk away" plant, usually requiring no water--Lisa says "the drier the better".
- Greggii, also called autumn sage or hummingbird mint, is perennial in our 6B growing zone, is evergreen, smells like mint, and attracts hummingbirds.
- An excellent cut flower choice, greggii can be used through two rounds of other cut flowers.
- Lisa says the only upkeep she does is cutting back and shaping her greggii in March each year.
Although greggii comes in a salmon color, Sue, our hard goods manager, says red greggii is the prolific bloomer.