It should flower next year. S. barrelieri blooms in June. The flower stems grow upwards to 6+'.

It might have difficulty surviving in the ground during your winter.

SG

Thank you, SG. It should be an awesome display if I can successfully overwinter it.

I recently acquired Salvia barrelieri. I read that it can tolerate some shade. Can anyone here confirm that?

I know that the flower stalks grow very tall (up to 6 feet), but have not seen any mention of how wide the bush gets. I want to make sure I give this enough space.

Betsy Clebsch says in her book "The New Book of Salvias" the following for S. barrelieri: "Salvia barrelieri is quite easy to place in the garden. All this plant needs is a sunny border, regular light to medium clay soil, some humus, and good drainage. I recommend a weekly watering and additional waterings during hot spells. Good drainage is especially important during winter months because of the prolonged wet and overcast spells." Having said that, you might push the edge of the envelope and place some in a more shady environment.

Thanks, Gerris. Did the book say how wide S. barrelieri grows?

Vicki,

It doesn't explicitly say the dimension, but from the picture it looks like a mature plant grows at lease 2 feet wide. It seems to have a more vertical element to offer for your garden design.

Joseph

The flower stems of Salvia barrelieri don't grow much wider that the width of the basal rosette of leaves. I would suggest whn the stems are about 2-3' tall that you loop some jute or string around them. I don;t syake them as the stems will support each other in the loop of string. As they grow taller loop more string higher up. The reason for this is that the stems tend to get heavy from the flowers and then the setting seed. If the stems start to lean the tips will bend towards the light. By doing the loop trick you will have straighter stems.

I do this becasue mine is in a spot that gets hit with our summer evening wind which usualy occurs just before the sun sets.

The best location for S. barrelieri is a south facing sunny slope.

It blooms in June.

Below is a photo of S. barrelieri. It should give you some idea just how big this salvia gets.

SG

Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia barrelieri

Thanks for the photo, Salvia Guy. It looks like it doesn't get terribly wide, which is a good thing in my case. That's a great tip about using the string. My area gets early evening wind in the summer too, so tying the flower stems should keep it from leaning or flopping over too much.

Vicki,

In the photo you will see I only did one loop of jute. I should have done two as this plant when in flower is 6'+.
Also try not to pull the loop of jute too taut. Let the stems spread out against the jute pulling it taut. You want to keep it from looking staked.

Some other feature about this salvia are;
the flowers open several at a time (8-10?)on each stem.
the flowers open from the bottom of the stems and work their way up to the tip similar to delphiniums.
the flower stems will branch giving you more blooms.
it will set many seeds.

When the flowering is finished remove the stems, unless you want to collect seed. The new growth will emege from the base giving you a nice foliage clump through the winter.

SG

Thanks for all the great sage advice, SG. Much appreciated!

Joseph