View source for Salvia patens

{{SPlantbox
|familia=Lamiaceae
|genus=Salvia
|species=patens
|common_name=Gentian sage
|name_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|habit=herbaceous
|habit_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|Min ht box=12
|Min ht metric=in
|Max ht box=24
|Max ht metric=in
|height_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|Min wd box=12
|Min wd metric=in
|Max wd box=24
|Max wd metric=in
|width_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|lifespan=perennial
|life_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|exposure=part-sun
|sun_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|features=flowers
|flower_season=early summer, mid summer, late summer, early fall, mid fall, late fall
|flower_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|flowers=blue, purple
|Temp Metric=°F
|min_zone=9
|usda_ref=Flora - A Gardener's Encyclopedia
|max_zone=11
|image=Salvia patens (Scott Zona) 001.jpg
|image_width=200
}}
'''''Salvia patens''''' (sometimes called '''Gentian sage''')  is native to a wide area of central [[Mexico]]. It is a [[herbaceous perennial]]. 

It was introduced to horticulture in 1838 and is now grown widely. It is frequently treated as an annual due to its sensitivity to hard frost, with bedding plants often put out in spring. Varieties have been developed with colors ranging from white to lilac to various shades of blue. Seeds from Holland have been available since the 1990s for rich colored and large flowered varieties. [[William Robinson (gardener)|William Robinson]] praised it in the 1933 edition of ''[[William_Robinson_(gardener)#The English Flower Garden, 1883|The English Flower Garden]]'' as one of the best plants in cultivation. <ref name="Clebsch">{{cite book|last=Clebsch|first=Betsy|coauthors=Carol D. Barner|title=The New Book of Salvias|publisher=Timber Press|date=2003|page=222|isbn=9780881925609|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NM0iwB8GrQYC&pg=PA222}}</ref> A collecting trip to Mexico in 1991 led by James Compton discovered a 1.8 m (6 foot) tall variety with large deep blue flowers that is available as 'Guanajuato'.<ref name="Clebsch"/>

''Salvia patens'' is tuberous, and easily lifted for overwintering in a greenhouse. The more common varieties reach 0.3 - 0.6 m (1-2 feet) tall and wide, and are covered with [[leaf shape|hastate]] shaped mistletoe-green leaves. Inflorescences reach 0.15 - 0.3 m (6-12 inches) or longer, rising well above the leaves. 1 inch flowers are spaced along the inflorescence, with a 1.3cm (0.5 inch) green calyx that adds to the attractiveness of the flowers.<ref name="Clebsch"/>

{{Inc|
Salvia patens, Cav. Half-hardy perennial, 1-2 1/2 ft. high: sts. herbaceous, erect; pilose: lvs. petiolate, ovate-deltoid, crenate, base hastate or in the upper lvs. rotund, both surfaces hispid; floral lvs. lanceolate-linear: floral whorls few, remote, with large fls.; calyx campanulate, villous, the teeth setaceous-acuminate; corolla blue, 2 in. or more long, the tube broad. Sept. Mountains of Mex.—The most commonly cult. blue salvia. 

Var. alba, Hort., differs only in having white fls. 

Var. compacta nana, Hort., is offered in the trade. Var. lilacina, Hort., has lilac-blue fls.
{{SCH}}
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