Salvia greggii Sungold (Devon Cream)

The Salvia greggii 'Sungold', also marketed as Salvia 'Devon Cream', is an exceptionally bright variety of shrubby sage. This variety has dense vegetation and produces beautiful rounded volumes in the garden or on the terrace. Its small, delicate leaves are pleasantly aromatic and remain evergreen throughout winter. Its small pure yellow to cream yellow flowers bloom for several months until the first frost.

The 'Sungold' shrub sage is a horticultural selection. Its ancestor is Salvia greggii, also known as Texas White Sage. This aromatic plant is found in the mountains of eastern, western, and southern Mexico and southern Arizona. Its hardiness is rated at -9°C at its peak in well-drained soil. All sages belong to the Lamiaceae or Labiatae family.

The 'Sungold' sage is a ramified shrubby perennial plant with a bushy and spreading habit, as wide as it is tall. It will reach an average size of 60 cm in all directions. Nectariferous and melliferous flowering is particularly generous between May-June and October-November. It only stops in case of very dry soil or when frost arrives. The elongated flowers emerge from the foliage, grouped in spikes. They measure no more than 2 cm long, are soft and bright, and have a beautiful butter-yellow to cream-yellow colour. The foliage consists of small, delicate leaves 1 to 1.5 cm long, medium green colour, thick, aromatic, and slightly sticky, releasing potent fresh and tangy-smelling essential oil with heat. In an intense drought, the plant may partially lose its leaves without affecting its health. New buds and flower buds will develop as soon as the rains return.

This 'Sungold' shrubby sage will accompany the flowering of gauras and the creeping ceanothus 'Blue Diamond', as well as rosemary and rock bellflowers. But its association with autumn asters is fabulous: choose those that require little, such as Aster laevis, A. turbinellus or A. amellus. Shrubby potentillas and grasses will also create an elegant tableau with it. On the terrace, place it in a large pot next to an Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron'; the contrast of colours and silhouettes is fantastic!

A delicious tea made with Salvia greggii leaves in Mexico is called 'mountain myrtle'.