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

*Update* May Night Salvia does very well here in SE KY in Zone 6B, however it seems susceptible to slugs which eat holes in its leaves. Some beer in a bowl will drown the blighters. Only other drawback (and it may not be one to you) is the strong fragrance of the leaves, this being a member of the sage family.

I have several of them and they're pretty, but they never get bigger than about 1x1 and most of them have never flowered or only flower lightly. It's just not an exciting plant in my yard.

Bought this in April from Home Depot. Plopped it down into heavy clay soil with only a bit of expanded shale mixed into the backfill. Struggled along until the summer heat when it disappeared. Still kept the area watered about once a week. Come fall in September it shot up a decent amount of purple spikes. Never stopped blooming. Right now in January it still has two spikes up but barely any green. I do hope it grows this spring.

Planted 3 in my rose bed this past fall and they've gotten huge! They bloom all season here from spring till fall. The yellow jackets love this plant!
Looks great with my Westerland climbing rose and against the hot pink blooms of my William Baffin rose.
They are getting so tall that they are starting to flop a bit. That would be my only drawback. But, I think next season I will cut back some after the initial blooming and see if this helps.
Great plant and a must for every garden!

I have about five of these plants on my property. In the rock garden, northern exposure, it's huge, just short of 4 feet across. It also reblooms all summer long without deadheading. In the southern exp. garden, full sun, they're half that size and absolutely require deadheading. The flower stalks are stinky after bloom too - think I've heard them described as cat urine. That's pretty much dead on.

My favorite Salvia! I bought 5 of them from Lowe's last fall for $2 each and they were huge then. They had lost their bloom when bought, so I wasn't sure what they would look like. They are gorgeous and I have honey bees all over them. The hummingbirds love them the most in all of my gardens. They are a hit with my whole family and my husband wants me to get more this fall. They are all the same and all May Night. I also bought 5 from Walmart for $1 and they were labled Meadow Sage and i was told they were May Night. However, 3 of them are Cardonna and 2 of them are some very short compact Mini-May Night. I have no idea what their name is. I am going to separate them this fall, buy more May Night at Lowe's and put them here. I have Cardonna already growing up in the back bed. That is the darker purple, more compact Salvia. It has thin spears and isn't full at all. It is beautiful, though.

Two were stuck in pots last summer, successfully overwintered despite our 3 blizzards, and are blooming their heads off. There is even one plant that is coming up through the bricks, also happily blooming away.

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.