The Unplugged salvia group is growing to four in 2025 and that can be your start to an epic red, white and blue garden. There is also an Unplugged Pink that has 26 awards in the trophy case. Unplugged So Blue and Unplugged Pink have won a whopping 63 awards in what seems to be just a couple of years. Plus, what I am seeing in my own garden makes me think the new Unplugged Red and Unplugged White will be winning some hardware too!

The Unplugged salvias give The Garden Guy a lot to talk about. Unplugged So Blue salvia was the first and has been outstanding with 37 awards. Botanically speaking, it is a Salvia farinacea, commonly called a mealycup sage. Gosh, I hate that common name. I suppose it is because I always look at things from a marketing standpoint. If you think about it winning a quick 37 awards when there are so many named varieties in the marketplace, it is amazing. I wrote a column on this a couple of years ago giving my take that the name Unplugged was suggesting unplugging from all our electronics and gardening with this great salvia. Shoot, I am really clueless why Proven Winner chose that name.

The second in the group was Unplugged Pink. This caused great concern among those of us with white in the hair for one huge reason: It looks for all the world to be a Salvia guaranitica hybrid, commonly called anise sage. Proven Winners tags it as a Salvia hybrid, which of course is true, even if your humble horticulturist turned garden writer hasn’t been able to find the parentage. The bigger question is can you have different species in the Unplugged group, but I digress.

If that made the old-timers crazy, the third and newest member of the group, Unplugged Red, sent us over the cliff. Unplugged Red will debut in 2025 and is a flaming Salvia coccinea. The common names of this species are blood sage, scarlet sage and Indian fire. So now that gives the Unplugged group three species. Unplugged Red is so drop dead gorgeous all I can say is welcome to the group.

The fourth member also making its debut in 2025 is Unplugged White. Like Unplugged So Blue it is a Salvia farinacea or mealycup sage. I took notice of a Perfect Score in Penn State trials so I would expect this will be an award-winner too, when all the data is tabulated.

Besides being award-winning salvias, they are just the right garden size, 24 to 30 inches tall. This also opens the door for use as the thriller in mixed containers. Unplugged So Blue, White and Red all have DNA from the southern United States while Unplugged Pink presumably has DNA from South America.

All of these have no problem being perennial in my zone 8 Georgia garden and most certainly worth every penny as an annual. As far as encouraging a spring return, fertile well-drained soil is the key. Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds will be an added reward in addition to their beautiful blooms, no matter whether grown as an annual or perennial.

So, should Proven Winners read this column, here is The Garden Guy’s next wish. Get the gardening world a compact, mild-mannered Salvia uliginosa, and call it Unplugged Sky Blue.

The Unplugged salvias deserve a spot in your garden for 2025.

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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)

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