Salvia koyamae Bob McCartney give 'Rubrum' room and a

give 'Rubrum' room and a backdrop

both come from a genuine and rather poignant piece of history

Come late winter and early spring

dark green leaves with a slightly glaucous underside that catch light differently depending on how you stand relative to them

more tolerant of chalk and drought

Salvia koyamae Bob McCartney give 'Rubrum' room and aHere is a salvia that wants what salvias are not supposed to want. Most of the genus comes from sunbaked Mediterranean hillsides, dry Mexican mountains, and dusty California chaparral, so that the very word Salvia is shorthand for full sun, gravelly soil, and a watering regime closer to neglect than care. Salvia koyamae, endemic to the cool wooded slopes of Honshu in Japan, breaks every rule, asking instead for shade, moist humus rich woodland duff,