PlantFiles: Violet Sage, Ornamental Meadow Sage, Balkan Clary, Perennial Woodland Sage
Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht'

This plant is a strong positive in spring, when it is beautiful, loaded with blooms and great for attracting bees and butterflies. It earns a neutral in my climate (hot and humid) because it requires constant deadheading to extend the initial flush of blooms, and because it tends to die back extensively in the heat of summer. That said, its healthy, easy to grow and looks wonderful in spring and (less so) early summer.

This cultivar has gorgeous, long spiky blooms in late spring. They need to be deadheaded to look neat and to continue blooming. The only drawback of this plant is the frequent need to be deadheaded. On the plus side, they bloom from late spring to fall here and butterflies are all over it. They seem to prefer it to butterfly bushes. Overall, it is a great cultivar.

I bought 6 plants at the end of last season at WalMart. Planted them and hoped for the best. This year, all are up and healthy. Only thing is, I definitely have 2 different types of salvia, even though they all were tagged 'May Night.' Four of the plants have dark stems and a neater appearance. Two plants have green stems and are more floppy. I'm not sure which are the real 'May Nights' but the dark stems are staying in the front flower beds and the green stems are getting moved elsewhere. All are blooming abundantly.

Love it! Love the color and growing it in the garden!

Bought a 4" pot on impulse at Home Despot last year, after reading raves about it on another gardening forum. I was pretty resigned to not seeing much out of it that year as it was so small, but it proceeded to bloom and bloom all summer! Each flush of bloom had another spike or two of flowers and by fall it was noticeably larger.

Definitely a keeper -- I put it in a new bed where the drainage might not be so great, so I hope it made it though the winter.

I bought two very small plants at Home Depot in mid April of this year, and by late May they had grown well over a foot (in both height and spread) and were blooming. They've been blooming for six weeks now, and still have more buds. The foliage is attractive, and the flowers are gorgeous, as well as attractive to bees and butterflies.

A winner in my book. After having several plants for about 10 years, I have added more. The original three have not only survived but thrived in what was terrible clay soil. (Since amended, we'll see how the new ones like that.) I have never had "volunteers" but maybe because I usually deadhead in order to keep the plant blooming. The first blooming is the most impressive, but it will keep on going in a looser fashion literally ALL SUMMER if deadheaded. Looks stunning with yellow leaved or flowered plants. I have it next to ladysmantle, a yellow-leaved grass, and "Gold Nugget" barberry. Great!

One of my favorite salvias. In my area, the most spectacular blooming occurs late Feb - late May, but the plants will continue to put out further flushes of bloom until frost. It helps to deadhead -- I usually just use the electric hedge clippers to make quick work of it.

Adore this plant and so do the bees!
This plant is so beautiful when it blooms but can be annoying when it self seeds. It's the quiet problem that no one talks about - the propensity of this plant to self sow where it's happy. And it seems to be quite happy in my Zone 5A amended clay soil.

As the area where I have it sited is starting to become a partial shaded area, May Night still blooms beautifully but it also is a 'leaner'. Likes to flop a little and lean on it's neighbors.

It does not come true from seed. Offspring are various shades of purple.

This plant has gorgeous purple stems loaded with violet-purple flowers that bloom from June to October. With its blue-gray, lance-shaped aromatic foliage, it makes an attractive accent all summer long. It has a plant height of 18” and a spread of 18-24” and stays in excellent compact form.

Selected Perennial Plant of the year in 1997.

Salvia ‘May Night’ should be planted in full sun in a moist well-drained area.

Grows well in z4. Bumble bees love it!

I am very pleased with this plant that I added to my yard this year. It gets full sun and has been in constant bloom since planting and has filled out beautifully!

I've been growing this for about 3 yrs. and it was beautiful until this yr. We have had record rains and it ruined my plants. They turned black and stopped blooming. Icut them back but not much help. I will prune heavy this fall and hope for the best next yr.

Update Mar 2007: I still have this salvia. It has never grown much taller or fuller and has never looked as good as it once did. Apparently it hates where its located. But since it is still alive, I'm letting it stay where it is. I need the color there.

I grow this as a perennial in zone 2b and it does well.

Fast-growing and beautiful. TONS of violet-purple, mildly-scented flower spikes that attract bees & butterflies. Easily divided, even when in flower, just be sure to keep well-watered.

Grows VERY fast from softwood cuttings (as in flowering and almost full size second year). After rooting, cuttings die down to ground and resprout several days to weeks later.

May Night was the 1997 Perennial Plant Association " Plant of the Year". Large rosettes of dark green leaves continue to send up tall spikes of flowers. Must keep deadheaded for continued bloom.

Easy to care for and maintain. A real winner.