Salvia – Tree Farm & Nursery

S & J Nursery Salvia Selections For the North Florida, Jacksonville & St. Augustine Area Landscape

I am always saying this or that plant is my favorite, and I do love plants to the point that it is an all out abnormal obsession, but Salvias are my first obsession, no maybe basil was, hmm or peppers, yep peppers were my first obsession, nope I take that back it was definitely tomatoes.

There’s just something stunning about the upright bloom stalks rising above the foliage to show themselves to the world that makes me want to take them home with me to admire in the garden. I guess a normal person would call me a collector. It’s the original owner of Maggies herb farms fault, I was just there to pick up some kitchen herbs over 20 years ago. At the time it was almost an hour drive one way to get there and was a nice Sunday afternoon trip. As I was wondering about I couldn’t help but notice the plant selections that she had planted in the ground for display and I started talking to her about her beautiful Salvia plants.

I had always thought of Salvia as the squat annual plant that gets all of a foot tall that is used in masses for color at the front of traditional landscape beds and subdivision entry ways. There was a beautiful salvia standing about waist high and of coarse it had a butterfly on it! I told her I didn’t know they had any herbal uses ( a few of them actually do ) she laughed and said she just loved salvias so she collected them whenever she ran across them. It didn’t take long for her to recognize my level of curiosity about the plants was not normal and she decided a tour of the back greenhouse and gardens was a necessity. She showed me everything she had collected over the years, and told me about a few she no longer had and a few she wished she did. It was there that my eyes were opened to the world of Salvias being substantial perennial backbones in the garden instead of annual accents as bedding plants at the front of subdivision entryways and I have been a fan ever since.

It’s no secret that I love Salvias for Northeast Florida gardens, my home yard is stocked full of them! They are just such an easy care perennial plant that gives back so very much more than they take, which is of coarse what makes me love any plant in the garden. Needy things quickly get eliminated out of pure neglect and what thrives with little help is left and replaced when it does finally meet its end from something or other. So naturally Salvias have made up quite a substantial chunk of the garden ever since that Sunday afternoon long ago on a trip to Maggies Herb Farm in St. Augustine.

With multiple seasons of show stopping blooms and so little attention needed by you for them to look their best they are a gardeners dream come true. Really all there is to taking care of Salvia plants is to whack them back to sticks when they start getting messy looking. Fertilize them and they are back to beautiful before you know it. Who cant handle that? So easy! I whack mine back at home at least once a year in the spring and sometimes again in mid to late summer.

The Salvia family includes over 900 species of Salvias growing in different parts of the world, not to mention all of the hybrid crosses and selections within each of those species to choose from. With so many salvias growing freely all over the world, there just has to be a variety well suited
for every garden setting.

Following is a list of Salvia Selections we have grown and sold over the years including tried and true favorites that fit perfectly in to the North Florida | Jacksonville | St. Augustine area gardens landscapes, as well as a few new exciting cultivars that I am still trying out in my home gardens. No we don’t have all of them in stock all of the time, like other plant selections they come and go seasonally and some years they are nowhere to be seen. Its part of the fun, hunting down your untried selections or your old favorites you haven’t grown in years or that you remember in Grandmas yard as a kid. Here’s to hoping that you not only give them a try but learn to love them every bit as much as I do!