Salvia × 'Amistad'

Salvia × 'Amistad' on moderate water in September 2022. Photo: SK Reid.

Summary

UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.

‘Amistad’, Spanish for friendship, is a hybrid sage discovered in Argentina which is believed to be a hybrid of Salvia guaranitica and S. gesnerifolia. Discovered in 2007 and patented in 2011, ‘Amistad’ has been on the market for a while and was selected by the research team in order to develop WUCOLS compatible irrigation recommendations. This is a medium height herbaceous perennial with dark green, cordate leaves and racemes of purple flowers nestled in black to aubergine-colored calyces. Plant maintenance consisted of cutting back stems to a healthy leaf node at the end of the establishment season after the last frost. We did have some mortality with this taxon, with several plants dying before the deficit season, resulting in each treatment having only 5 or 6 replicates rather than the usual 8.

Flowering began in June with all plants flowering by July. The month with the highest mean floral abundance scores was October, when all plants scored a 5. The 20% treatment had a mean overall floral abundance score greater than 4 for the last three months of the deficit season, August to October. For planting design, this would suggest ‘Amistad’ would be useful for providing late season color. 

At both spring and fall open house events, ‘Amistad’ was very popular with professional participants who stated they would use these plants in a professional capacity (Table 8). At both events, all plants evaluated by participants scored well regardless of irrigation treatment. Based on the trial results, we recommend Amistad be assigned a WUCOLS Low category in Region 2.

 Basic Info

Growth and Quality Data

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Closeup of Salvia × 'Amistad' flowers. Photo: SK Reid.