Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious'
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Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious' (PP# 17,977)• Click here to visit our Main Plant List page for current availability of this plant
• common name: pineapple sage
• flowering season: summer
• height: 2 feet; even taller in USDA Zones 9 - 11
• Light requirements: sun
• Soil requirements: average, well drained
• Water requirments: average; if grown in a pot it will need frequent watering once it becomes “pot bound”
• Growth habit: bushy and upright
• Leaf type: 3 to 4-inch golden leaves
• Ways to use it: the leaves and flowers are edible and can be used in fruit salads and on roast pork
• Special characteristics: the leaves turn their brightest citron color in strong light
• Other points of interest: this is such a magnet to hummingbirds that another good name for it would be “hummingbird highway”
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 9 to 11, this tender perennial is content to grow in a pot that can be put outside during summer's warm weather and brought indoors during winter's cold. In places where it can be grown outdoors year around it reaches a height of several feet. In a container you will determine the plant's height by the size pot you give it. It becomes pot-bound quickly. Being pot-bound is not a problem for it -- you will get more flowers when it is, but you will also have to water it more frequently. It likes lots of light, and adapts to frequent pruning if you should want to keep it small. The flowers are a blazing red, and long blooming. The leaves are lemon yellow and are scented strongly of something like pineapple. The leaves can be safely nibbled, so this bright and fragrant plant is useful as a garnish for the dining table.