Well there are quite a few. One of the neatest, well-architectured sages is Salvia caudata (El Cielo Blue). It is quite sturdy and handles heat and humidity well.

Salvia melissodora makes a nice shrub with lots of silvery leaves and has grape-scented flowers as well. There are a bunch of others like it.

I like the patterns on the foliage of S. semiatrata. The gray-green foliage has ruts that are so even it seem to me at times to resemble the surface of a rough file.

For big, wooly silver leaves, S. sclarea is pretty good, S. argentea better. Even though S. aethiopis is a noxious weed in most of the American west, it can develop a pleasant complex candelabra worm. These sages have many cousins in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan like S. moorcroftiana, which has really long wooly leaves and gorgeous flower spikes of silver and lavender.

As to Agastaches, rupestris is the only one that develops linear, non-toothed foliage. Its hybrids show some of this effect, but not much.

Richard is correct about El Cielo Blue -- it has beautiful foliage. Unfortunately, mine drowned in the heavy, seemly never-ending rain we had last winter. :-(

S. chiapensis has nice foliage, and I love the purplish leaves of S. sinaloensis.

What a great question! My favorite foliage (this year) is discolor. I love it it smells good too! I also like melssadoro unfortunatly it really blooms late for me and it takes up alot of room but when it's in full bloom and the sun falls on it just so it's spectacular! I also love buchannii the leaves are so shiny and tiny against the beautiful velvet magenta? or fuschia? flower Sarah

Here is one for Robin and Christian to add to their must-have list: Salvia pseudorosmarinus

I found it on the Field Museum's new online herbarium:
Search for Herbarium images at the Field Museum -
http//fm1.fieldmuseum.org/vrrc/

This site is not easy to find on Google without the right search terms

The salvia in question really looks like it has rosemary leaves, and the flowers are substantial in size and a deep indigo. Wowza, I want it myself!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Richard,
The Field Museum's site is just great! If only we could see real pictures of the plants in flower!

Re the "best Foliage", I would suggest Salvia ampelophylla, huge leaves with a pleasant scent. Still waiting to see this flower though.

Otherwise, I would suggest that the foliage of S. dorisiana is delightful, with its lovely lime-green colour, and heavenly, fruity scent. Even after flowering has finished in early Spring, this is a delightful foliage plant in a large container throughout the Summer.

Another with rather spectacular foliage is S. gravida. The sweet scent of the foliage is overwhelming!

Another which has been named as S. ionocalyx (previously incorrectly called S. carnea) has beautiful small leaves, which are burgundy-coloured on the underside. Add to this the deep red/burgundy flowers...and it is a gem!

Salvia rubescens has handsome foliage, silvery-green, pity that it is reluctant to flower in the UK.

Perhaps the best foliage of all is to be seen on the Chinese species...Salvia omeiana. Huge, green leaves, which are deep violet on the underside. Bright yellow flowers are a bonus.

There must be several more, I will think about this.

Just a thought, what about the many forms of S. officinalis? Eg 'Berggarten', 'Purpurascens', and the non-flowering 'Icterina'?

Best wishes to you all,

Robin.

Oh, I forgot about my 'Berggarten' sage! Here's a nice picture of it. The dew makes it look even more silver than usual. A nice touch if I say so myself. Of course, that wasn't my doing, but I was lucky enough to capture it. New camera since June & I'm having lots of fun!

I really like the rosemary like foliage on that one, Rich & the purple undersides were amazing on the S. ionocalyx, Robin. I am learning about way too many Salvias for my cold climate without a greenhouse!

Are all the fruit scented Salvias distinctly scented? I love pineapple sage and may have killed mine last winter while overwintering it. I couldn't stop crushing the leaves! How does the scent of dorisiana & the others differ?
Thanks.
Rose

Oh, I forgot about my 'Berggarten' sage! Here's a nice picture of it. The dew makes it look even more silver than usual. A nice touch if I say so myself. Of course, that wasn't my doing, but I was lucky enough to capture it. New camera since June & I'm having lots of fun!

I really like the rosemary like foliage on that one, Rich & the purple undersides were amazing on the S. ionocalyx, Robin. I am learning about way too many Salvias for my cold climate without a greenhouse!

Are all the fruit scented Salvias distinctly scented? I love pineapple sage and may have killed mine last winter while overwintering it. I couldn't stop crushing the leaves! How does the scent of dorisiana & the others differ?
Thanks.
Rose

I wonder what that rosemary like sage smells like? Your sage is pretty Rosewoman. Does it get lavendar flowers in June? Mine does but the hummingbirds don't seem to like it.

Most of the fruity scents are the result of esters, chemical compounds made from a unit of an organic acid and another of an alcohol. The best example is ethyl acetate (fingernail polish), made from acetic acid (vinegar) and ethyl alcohol.

The following sages have these esters:

Salvia dorisiana (perillyl acetate, methyl perillate - fruit or peach or grapefruit); S. pulchella and S. microphylla f. neurepia (probably the same esters); S. elegans (especially rutilans forms) (actually unknown, not ethyl butyrate, found in pineapple). I have not smelled any scent from the leaves of S. gravida yet. Either I have a different clone, or it needs to put on new growth.

There are other sages with fruity scents, but the amount of esters is small. These include S. fulgens, S. gesneraeflora, S. microphylla, S. greggii, and S. disjuncta.

Salvia spathacea has nice fruity smelling leaves. I enjoy S. discolor's leaves, nice silver-white beneath and lime green above.

Joseph

S. hirtella has great foliage. The leaves are smallish (average about 2") but so very shiney, and the plant is extremely fragrant. Beautiful flowers, too.

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Cait