Salvia madrensis

The michaelmas daisies are full blown by the time this late-rising yellow salvia opens its flowers. I’m not sure whether it is the latest, or the tallest, or the most yellow – but it combines all these qualities in a tantalizing way that comes to its climax in October. It is the same indoors or out. We grow it in a border and in the conservatory: they flower together. Day-length is the key. But such soft yellow on a plant with such generous pale green leaves is worth the wait.

It has unusual engineering too. In a dry border here it reaches five feet. In a richer one and a warmer place it will reach seven or eight. To stand upright it has evolved what I can only call girder construction; its rich green stems are H-shaped in profile, unique and intriguing. The tall michaelmas daisy behind it in the picture is ‘Little Carlow’.

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