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Plant Notes

PLANT OF THE MONTH: November 2006
Salvia clevelandii "Betsy Clebsch"

            Glenda Jones showed Salvia clevelandii "Betsy Clebsch", named in honor of our own member and Salvia expert, Betsy Clebsch. This cultivar was selected from a group of plants being grown at Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden and is distinguished by the variability of its flower color. Flowers on the same plant may be blue-lavender, white or bi-colored. It is somewhat smaller and more compact than the species, less than 3 ft. high and wide. The foliage is grayish-green, the leaves about 1 in. long. It blooms in May or June and continues through the summer and into fall, the flowers in whorls set in intervals along the stems. Glenda is to be congratulated on her success as this specie is considerably more difficult to grow than the regular Salvia clevelandii.

            S. clevelandii is a fragrant sub-shrub native to the California chaparral and likes light well draining soil and heat. It is extremely drought resistant and once established needs no summer water. Sunset zones 10-24.
            Betsy Clebsch has written two books on salvias, A Book of Salvias published in 1997 and The New Book of Salvias: Sages for Every Garden published in 2003. In this second book Betsy added more than 50 new species and cultivars bringing the total to approximately 150 garden worthy species & hybrids.
Western Horticultural Society
P.O. Box 60507,   Palo Alto, CA 94306
(650) 948-4614 or (650) 941-6136
info@westernhort.org