I grow lots of salvias in with my roses. I tend to use drought tolerant ones, and pair them with roses that do well low water as well. So I have multiple California natives , such as the gorgeous Salvia 'Celestial Blue' (not thirsty but tolerates garden water as well)--this one blooms like crazy for months (not all year though) and does need to be cut back. I like this one so much I have 5 more on order. One you might like Ingrid is Saliva greggii 'Teresa'. It's a small, bushy mound of green, covered in cool pale pink flowers off and on (more on than off) most of the year. Doesn't need to be cut back. Mine is still young but it seems happy at about 2 feet tall. I have it bordered by roses that like the same amount of water it does--the hybrid musk Omi Oswald, Rose de Rescht, Comtesse O'Gorman, and Rosa canina Laxa. Mine came from one of my favorite sage sources, Flowers by the Sea. Another one I really like is Salvia namaensis. It is a South African native. Thrives in really hot conditions with very little water and no fertilizer in my garden. I have it paired with Wild Edric who seems to have the same preferences. S. namaensis has beautiful pale/mid blue flowers and a very long blooming season. Doesn't need cutting back either. Mine is around 1 1/2 feet tall and spreading in habit. Leaves are kind of ruffled (unusual for a sage) and a really pretty mid green. I just bought another one which should arrive in the mail this week. Melissa Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia greggii 'Teresa'

Knock-out is fairly low growing and keeps its lower leaves better then some - a benefit of disease resistance. May Night probably won't fit underneath, but could go along side. A low geranium is a nice idea, Rozanne is a nice blue, G. sanguinium var. striatum is a nice pale pink. Ted

Kevin, I had the same results with the S. Freisland (a dud) and all the Superba types leave me disinterested because they are sold so commonly in places like Home Depot so they seem on the same level as marigolds to me now. Any deep purple seems to disappear in my garden and its not my favorite. I do well with Salvia 'Hot Lips' and the greggii types here but they are only hardy in the warmer zones, I think zone 6 is the limit. They do root extremely easy and you can winter cuttings if you want to go to the trouble, they don't seem to resent being dug up and moved either. I have some new ones started from cuttings I took in fall that are now rooted indoors to add more of the new colors I got last summer. Salvia 'Hot Lips' grows really fast and will form a good sized bushy plant in a single season and I think you could just about treat it as an annual in cold areas and use new cuttings each spring. I added some Cedar Sage last fall under a tree hoping for it to make a ground cover and grew Mealycup sage and Coccinea, these all come up easily from seed and naturalize well. Some years back I grew clary sage and I am thinking of adding it again, I like the bracts which makes it ornamental for a very long period in summer even after the blooms are spent. J.L. Hudson has one called 'VATICAN CLARY' that has "large white flowers tinged with pink. Nice!" I am thinking of ordering seeds. I'm also looking at 'KASHMIR SAGE' and 'SILVER SAGE' in the catalog. I want to try S. alpiana but at best it would preform as a short lived annual here. I read it grows fast and seeds about so that might work. For $2.50/pack I'd gamble on it. I'm also looking at the native S. hispanica 'CHIA', its a native annual endemic to California, I like those funky ball-like flower heads and it would be a fun returning annual each spring.

Salvia tend to like it drier than water-thirsty roses. Watering 2 days a week (depends how long you're watering and how much volume if you're on a drip) sounds fine for the roses, as you're near the coast. Plenty of water especially for now. But, that being said, with certain established roses, like Julia Child, they can get by nicely will less water than other roses. And some salvia can stand more water than other varieties. So, I was trying to find a salvia that didn't mind being wee bit wetter than they probably naturally like that was that deep bluish purple. It's the salvia I was more worried about, as I was going to have to water for the roses. I ended up ordering 4 different varieties and will simply make the decision when they arrive, and plant the rest in my yard in other places, since I (and the hummers) love salvia :-) Patty S.