Eugene weekly., April 08, 2004, Page 31, Image 31

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Michael Curtis Ford
The Last King:
Rome’s Greatest Enemy
TUESDAY, APRIL 13, AT 7:00 PM
The Last King is a novel about the historical adventures
of a man who tries to claim the mantle of Alexander the
great and unite the peoples of the ancient Greek empire in
a crusade against the growing power of Rome. Bursting
with heroic battle scenes and eloquent storytelling, Ford,
who speaks several languages and is an avid reader of the
classics, has crafted a riveting novel of the ancient world
and resurrected one of history's greatest warriors. Ford
has bachelor's degrees from the University of Washington
and a graduate degree from Princeton, and his previous
novels are The Ten Thousand: A Novel of Ancient Greece
and Gods and Legions: A Novel of the Roman Empire.
Super Sages
Hardy perennials make good companion plants.
N
ew sages for the garden have been
introduced so fast in recent years
that books on the topic are obsolete
as soon as they hit the shelf. Many of these
new Salvia varieties — and some of the
most glamorous— are generally frost-ten-
der plants from Mexico and South America,
to be grown, in our area, as annuals. There
are, however, many perfectly hardy peren-
nial sages that have a lot to offer as part of
a sunny border’s supporting cast. By that I
mean that while you would not grow them
on their own as you might, say, a fine day-
lily, they make terrific companion plants.
Some are also reasonably tolerant of
drought: they do need water in summer, but
don’t demand consistently moist soil.
Hardy sages are a reliable source of blue
and purple. Only a handful have flowers of
pure, spectrum blue; most are purple, lavender
or violet. A few are pink or white. Some form
rosettes of leaves the first year and bloom the
next, and after that they are not good for
much; but the real workhorses of the salvia
world grow in slowly expanding clumps that
can be left in the ground from year to year or
divided to make more plants. I won’t spend
time on the rosette-formers, except to say that
everyone should grow Salvia argentea at least
once! The rosette is big and covered with bril-
liant silver fur. The following spring, if it sur-
vives the winter wet, it explodes in a mass of
bloom about three feet high.
The true perennials among herbaceous
(non-woody) sages carry their small, hood-
ed flowers on vertical spires that look won-
derful intermingling with lilies, day-lilies,
phlox, kniphofia and daisies. Some of the
best are hybrids that you will find labeled
Salvia x sylvestris as well as a variety name.
Probably best-known of these is ‘May
Night.’ For years it was called ‘Mainacht,’
and it was a connoisseur’s plant. Then some
bright nursery person translated the name
and promoted it as Plant of the Year.
Once May Night became popular, some
unscrupulous growers began to stick the
name on any variety they wanted to move,
and you may now find at least two distinct
plants under this name. The one I currently
understand to be the genuine article has pro-
nounced, sturdy basal leaves so pungent
that deer usually leave them alone. Violet
flowers in dark calyces are carried on two-
and-a-half foot stems. ‘Indigo’ (not to be
confused with ‘Indigo Spires,’ below) is
more vigorous, and a little taller. The flow-
ers, carried on a more open branch pattern,
are light violet and the calyces are green.
There is a group of smaller sages that are
useful near the front of a flower bed. Salvia
nemerosa (“East Friesland”) has many par-
allel stems bearing purple flowers with red-
dish calyces, a vibrant color combination.
“Blauhugel” (“Blue Mound”) is exception-
ally compact with flowers more blue than
purple. “Snow Hill” has pure white flowers.
Last year I enjoyed a new variety of S.
nemerosa named “Caradonna,” with purple
flowers on stems that are almost black. The
clumps are coming back strongly. When S.
nemerosa stops blooming, cut the plants
down within a few inches of the ground and
feed them. They will soon bush out and
flower again.
According to the gardening literature,
Salvia nemerosa varieties are supposed to
grow to two feet, but they never do so in my
garden, which does not have the light soil
they prefer. Clumps expand slowly (they
are among the few border plants that I
almost always plant in groups of three or
more) but they will grow more vigorously if
you divide them now and then. Slugs love
to eat the new shoots of sages, so in late
winter it’s a good idea to clear the crowns of
any accumulated debris where slugs could
hide out.
A relatively recent introduction, Salvia
verticillata (“Purple Rain”) seems to be par-
ticularly tolerant of dry soils. For me it
grows about 15 inches tall and twice as
wide. The leaves are fuzzy, and the deep
purple flowers are arranged in distinct
whorls on the stems. Even newer is a hybrid
named “Indigo Spires.” I have never grown
this one, but it is creating a bit of a sensation
in the Pacific Northwest, where it appears
to be winter-hardy, in spite of having as one
parent mealy sage, a familiar tender peren-
nial that most gardeners know in the form
“Victoria Blue.” “Indigo Spires” makes a
bushy, leafy plant from three to five feet
tall, and blooms all summer.
5 O A K W AY C E N T E R • E U G E N E , O R 9 7 4 0 1 • 3 4 5 . 6 0 7 2
Place Personal Announcements
with Eugene Weekly
Weddings • Anniversaries
Births • Birthdays • Anything!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN
SMITH / JONES WEDDING
You’re life has so much meaning to
me. Thanks for making the last seven-
teen years a joy. From the moment I
first saw your pudgy baby face to the
last time I saw your wavy hair bob out
the door, I’ve known I am pround to be
your father.
Theodore Smith and Victor Jones are
thrilled to announce their exchange of
wedding vows, April 3, 2004. Smith, a
die cast technician, was born in
Medford and lives in Veneta. Jones, a
certified arborist, is a native of Eugene.
The couple plans to live in Eugene.
Rachel Foster of Eugene is a garden writer and consult-
ant. She can be reached at rfoster@efn.org
APRIL 8, 2004 31