I've always liked the flowers of gesneriiflora too. Now I'm waiting to see salvia gesneraeflora x mexicana 'Raspberry Truffle' that is about to bloom out of season since I've just gotten it in Jan.

I love them all, but I like S. involucata "Mulberry Jam" best..... the hummers do too.

A very difficult question, but I think if I could only have one it would have to be Salvia vanhouttei. There's something about the way the colors shade from calyx to the tip of the flower that I find absolutely breathtaking. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind depending on what's in bloom.

I love the velvety blooms of the Leucantha. The Indigo Spires is pretty too, and the Greggii 'Caviar'....I love
them all!

the little Coahuilensis (18 +18 )in a planter with it little purple flowers,bright green leaves, blooms all summer and has a intense aroma.

My favorite is salvia discolor. I love it it looks black. but it's not it's purple and the hummers love it and it's still alive on my window sill.

Yes, Salvia discolor is undoubtedly special, really unique.

The late Christopher Lloyd described it as "a flopping oddity". I see what he meant, but I love it anyway!

Another suggestion for a truly beautiful Salvia would be Salvia scabra???? Dainty little thing from South Africa, easy to grow, masses of large, pale lavender flowers throughout the summer months.

Another would be Salvia interrupta...gorgeous blue flowers in spring. Fairly hardy perennial with compact growth.

One of the most beautiful of all Salvias I have seen is the rare Salvia albimaculata from Turkey. A nightmare to grow...needs warm alpine conditions...sensational flowers, but tends to die after flowering, and seeds are hellishly difficult to germinate!

I could go on and on.....

Best regards to all.......Robin.

This year I'm in love with uliginosa and how it contrast with red knockout rose and everything else. My all time favorite is still guarantica species- I can't get enough of it. I also can't live without coccinea. They are superb fillers and my shaded area near the maples would be empty without them. There's so many salvias I haven't had a chance to try. It is so easy to become a collecter of this genus.

I'm always tempted to break out this topic into divisions like my favorite long flowered salvia (dombeyi and gesneriiflora), true blue flower (patens Guanajuato), scented flower (melissodora), tree-like sage (sessei), or floriferous sage (greggii x Raspberry Royale). Salvia gravida and S. recurva are some of the ones I want to see in bloom that seem to elude me.

I also have some over the fence sages that I'd love to see and take images of, like S. oxyphora and some of Petra Wester's finds. Then there are those I have seen on Herbarium sheets like Salvia pseudorosmarinus. My biggest thrills come from bringing these plants into cultivation and seeing them bloom.

Here is a link that might be useful:

My growing ability is limited because of my location in a not so hardy zone 6 but I can tell you about the ones I do grow.

Until about 4 yrs. ago the only salvia that I was remotely familiar with was Salvia splendens which I grew every yr. for its intense brilliant red flowers to atttract my hummers. I thought it was gorgeous and planted it every year. Then I learned about Salvia guaranitica Black & Blue and found a small one locally and fell in love once it grew and began to bloom. I vowed that I would never be without this one. I thought it was the most beautiful plant on the planet. Then I added Salvia coccinea and I was in love yet again but B&B still held first place. This year I added a Purple Majesty, Van Remsen and Raspberry Truffle. The Raspberry Truffle is over 7ft tall but has never bloomed so the jury is still out on that one. Van Remsen rivals my B%B but Purple Majesty has taken center stage. I am glad I have the Purple Majesty and the Van Remsen and B&B all in seperate beds so that they don't have to compete with one another. It would be hard to determine which of the tree I thought to be the most beautiful. If I factor in bloom time B&B would probably be the top runner and then Van Remen and Purple Majesty would come in 3rd. I still need to try to get a few cuttings of Purple Majesty as insurance for next year but it has been so wet from all the rain here in the northeast that I just haven't been able to get out in that part of the yard to get to the garden area.

Penny

1 off my favorites is Salvia Dorisiana whith its huge cylamen pink flowers, I cant resist touching its fruit scented leaves, I also love the Salvia Madrensis, with its huge buttercup yellow flowers, it is spectacular in bloom, I just saw the S.Meyeri bloom for the first time, it has huge blue and white flowers, what am I saying I love them all, they are all special in their own special way.

My favorite (and the favorite of my hummers too) is Salvia canariensis. It's so gorgeous and fluffy, the only drawback is the fragrance of its foliage.

Right now, Salvia greggii `Señorita Leah' has my vote. I got mine from the now closed Blue Meadow Herb Farm in Montague, MA. Brian McGowan found it as a sport amongst the stock plants of San Isidro Moon, Sierra San Antonio, and other types of x jamensis forms. I am still trying to get it distributed so it does not get lost. Alas, seedlings probably won't come true. The plant is like Sierra San Antonio with a light orange sherbet replacing the yellow in the lip and a mild peppermint stick red replacing the orange in the hood.

I'll post an image when I get my password to my web page upload straightened out.