‘Amistad’ Salvia Is a Friend to Hummingbirds and Gardeners
‘Amistad’ salvia delights hummingbirds, and it’s easy to grow in the garden or pots. Sun and moderate water ensure a summer’s worth of purple flowers!
'Amistad' salvia, named with the Spanish word for friendship, delights hummingbirds with its upright spikes of tubular flowers. The large blossoms attract attention with their amethyst color. Easy to grow, this tender salvia is a bulky and long-blooming plant that thrives in summer heat and tolerates drought once established. Use it as an easy upright filler for a garden border or a large container.
Common name: 'Amistad' salvia, friendship sage
Botanical name: Salvia 'Amistad'
Origin: Salvia 'Amistad' is a hybrid that was found at a plant sale in 2005 by Rolando Uria, a salvia expert and agronomy professor at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Uria chose the cultivar name 'Amistad' (Spanish for friendship) because he wanted the plant to be shared. It was introduced to the European market in 2012 through New World Plants, a UK wholesaler specializing in plant breeding, marketing and propagating. 'Amistad' arrived in the US a year later. Its parentage likely includes the species Salvia guaranitica, a South American species known for its blue flowers.
Flowers: Large, tubular flowers line upright stems, blooming from early summer to the fall frost. The petals are a vibrant dark purple, which is enhanced by the near-black calyces that connect them to the similarly dark stems. The shape of the flowers makes them the perfect natural feeder for hummingbirds. They will also attract butterflies and bees, which access the nectar by drilling through the base of the flower, their tongues being too short to reach it otherwise.
Foliage: The deep green, glossy leaves have toothed edges and a shield-like shape.
Size and habit: This is an upright, shrubby perennial reaching three to four feet tall and wide, potentially larger where hardy. It is herbaceous, meaning it dies at the end of the growing season and reemerges in spring (where hardy; in colder regions it can be treated as an annual). Although its likely parent S. guarantica spreads by rhizomes, 'Amistad' does not show this trait, instead remaining a tidy clump.
Growing 'Amistad' salvia
Exposure: Full to part sun
How to grow it: Provide Salvia 'Amistad' with plenty of sunshine, but in very hot areas a couple hours of afternoon shade can be beneficial. This plant prefers moist, rich soil with good drainage. However, once established, it can withstand short periods of drought, making it a great container plant. Where it's hardy, cut the stems down to the ground in the fall, making way for spring's new growth. This plant can also be trimmed back by half in late summer if it's looking tired. This will spur fresh growth and blooming. USDA Zones 8–10.
