The plant of the month for July is the salvia, a truly versatile group of plants well worth getting to know. They deliver so much to the garden: there's culinary sage, lending a smoky flavour to your cooking, and pretty and eyecatching annual clary for a flash of instant colour. And don't forget sturdy, hardy perennial sages, delivering months of vivid blue-purple colour with little maintenance required. You couldn't ask for more.
Sage hails from Mexico so whichever type you grow, give it plenty of sunlight and a free-draining soil. Your reward is a generous display of flowers from midsummer until the first frosts. The hardy sages in particular are rock-solid reliable performers and a must-have for any perennial border.
Tender sages offer exquisite spires of blooms in dayglo crimson and magenta, while blackcurrant sage has scented leaves and the increasingly popular 'Hot Lips' has bicoloured flowers in red and white. All should survive a mild winter, but if in doubt lift in late autumn and pot up to bring under cover somewhere frost-free. Plant out again next spring and it'll bounce back good as new and give you years of dazzling colour to come.
