SALVIA GOOD GARDEN PICK.

Byline: JANE GATES Gardening

SANTA CLARITA - There are a number of plant families that grow well in the Santa Clarita area. The salvia family, however, is one of my favorites. You just can't beat them for putting on a long, colorful show.

Here are just a few of the perennial salvias that can do well here.

For a natural hillside or dry area, the California native, salvia clevelandii, is unbeatable.

It forms a full bush 4 inches to 5 inches tall and the same in width. The flowers are stacked in blue-purple whorls, and usually bloom from spring to early summer. If you leave the seed pods untouched, they dry to a rust red and the long stalks are great for flower arrangements.

The species has a pungent herbal fragrance to the leaves that you either like or don't. There are several varieties, the best known being ``Winnifred Gilman,'' which grows to only 2 inches or 3 inches in height and has a darker flower than other varieties.

Other natives that grow big and bold are the ``white sage'' (salvia apiana with light green leaves and whitish flowers) and the ``black sage'' (salvia mellifera with darker green foliage and pale lavender flowers.)

Give them space and water them for their first summer. After that, they can grow with no additional water, though some additional moisture will keep them looking more lush. Expect them to look dried up in August and September during their rest period. If you want low-growing varieties of native salvias, try salvias leucophylia, ``Bees' Bliss,'' which measure 10 inches to 2 feet tall with light blue flowers, or salvias mellifera, ``Terra Secca,'' about the same size but with white flowers.

Requiring regular garden conditions, two tough glamour plants come to mind; the salvia greggii, which grows 1 foot to 2 feet and comes in reds, pinks, whites and purples, and the dramatically deep blue salvia ``Indigo Spires.'' The latter will sprawl 4 feet to 5 feet tall and even wider. It is studded with huge featherlike indigo-blue flower heads that can stretch to 18 inches.

Bees and hummingbirds love it. But don't feel shy about pruning it to keep it in bounds. It will keep producing those colorful spikes from spring through fall. Mine might have flowered right through the winter if I hadn't cut them back to the ground to reclaim room for other plants.

Needing a little shade, the salvia guarantica will grow as tall but more narrow and upright than ``Indigo Spires.'' Its shorter spikes have bigger dark blue-violet flowers and it is a little less frost-tolerant.

Two other large beauties are the salvia uliginosa and salvia canariensis. The first is tall and thin with clear sky-blue flowers, and the latter forms a 5-inch round shrub smothered with flowers of an unusual color, like a mixture of brick and red-purple.

Two smaller varieties are the charming salvia sinaloensis with brilliant blue flowers and red-tinged foliage, and salvia chamaedroides with soft gray foliage and pure blue flowers. The former is less frost-resistant.

And don't forget the edible salvia officialis that comes in yellows, greens and purples. Pineapple sage, salvia elegans, is also edible with an undeniable pineapple scent to the foliage and showy brilliant red flowers, though it needs protection from frost.

These are only a few plants in the salvia family. But if you want a plant with show-stopping flowers or scented foliage, or if you love the rare true blues, look to this family for easy care and lots of choices.