Pam, your salvias are beautiful. Mine just don't grow well. I have Lady in Reds, and
Black & Blues. The foilage is happy but few flowers. Put them in all different places
in the yard this year, to see where they would be the happiest for next year. Seem to
be happiest shaded by my sunfloweres. Still pathetic compared to yours.
Mine
Yours
I had Hot lips and LIR & coral Nymph in the ground last year and they did really well. B&B overwintered in the ground, but its is still real small and no blooms yet. The B&B in the pot was purchased this season. I have found that new plants grow alot faster in large containers with fresh potting soil than they do in the ground. I guess its the nutrients in the fresh potting soil that makes them grow so fast. Here's another pic of B&B with his majesty having lunch!
Jeff,
"The hummers must be in heaven!"
They certainly do have it made, I can only hope to "reincarnate" as a hummer in my yard or a dog that is as pampered as mine!!
Elaine,
Do you use any fertilizer? Mg works real well about once a week. Fertilizer will help them to bloom.
Nice flowers Pam. Are some of those from the stampede series? Looks like your black and blue are flowering better than mine. Im now waiting to see what my b and b from seed will be, I wont know till august on those.
Pam, What is Mg? I have never used fertilizer except for miracle grow for my tomatoes. My other plants are doing great but my salvias are very unhappy. Only plant I am having trouble with. Driving me crazy enough to think of ripping them all out, but still hanging in there, looking for what the heck I am doing wrong.
Elaine
Coopersburg, Pa
Zone 6b
joan garvey (Login janselmo) Hummingbird lover 2007
Re: Salvia pics
July 5 2008, 8:23 AM
Pretty plants, Pam. I like the one with the hummer using the Black and Blue so you can see how big the flower is. Sweet!
Elaine--- Dont rip those plants out. Use your miracle grow on the salvias. Put a tablespoon of mg in your 1and 1/2 to 2gal pail and they will love you for it, at least once a week of the food will not hurt. I feed mine almost everytime I water , at least every other time. Hope this helps and good luck.
Stmpede is three selections of Salvia greggii, at least probably greggii since the breeder won't reveal the names of the parents. Hot Lips and Wild Watermelon are microphylla and the latter is an old selection that has been around for quite some time by bush sage standards. Red Velvet is I think another microphylla even though its leaves look more greggiish. Stampede was just introduced in 2007. It seems remarkably compact growing less than half as high as any other greggii I've tried. This makes it good for a front of the border plant. But for me the small stature is a real drawback. The bigger the plant the more flowers it can make, and the more flowers the more food for hummingbirds.
Here's of a PIC OF one Salvia I missed S. Stampede Lavender. Its a good example of how short these salvias are. The size of the bloom is considerably smaller also.
Ward,
Quote:It seems remarkably compact growing less than half as high as any other greggii I've tried
Now that you mentioned it, think I'll avoid the Stampedes. Had a yellow one last year a nd I wasn't too impressed with the growth on that one either.
Pam, when you walked the median you would have passed five Stampedes. They are easy to pick out there because they are so short. I don't really want to badmouth them because these kinds of choices are very subjective. They just don't happen to do much for me.
Quote:when you walked the median you would have passed five Stampedes
Yep, Yep. Got some seeds from them too!! Guess I'll decide what to do with them later. I saw a car driving alomg that road, I thought it was barcaded off??? Or was this a volunteer with access?
You could have taken cuttings of anything that you liked. We're beginning to see quite a few natural seedlings and we're hoping a few will be hardy enough and lovely enough to keep. We need our own selections in the Northeast, ones better adapted to our weather.
Don't you just love the salvia names? Wild watermelon, hot lips, coral nymph, red velvet, navajo red, I mean, what imagination and description. Great pictures of lovely salvias. I have a salvia, hot lips, I guess, but it's pink where yours are red. What do you think that one is called? It is also hot lips? You probably need a picture to offer an informed answer. Suzanne
I know I sent you some seeds, but I don't think they were Hot lips. What color are the blooms? I sent out alot of Coral Nymph, they are light pink. And Lady in Red which are bright red. hmmmm a pic would be helpful.
Thanks Steve. Guess MG is Miracle Grow. I always use it on my tomatoes, but never thought of using it on my salvia. I'll try it tomorrow. Didn't have the heart to rip them out because they look so healthy, minus the flowers. Haven't been on here much, because all I do is water. We need rain badly. Maybe I need to learn the "rain dance" the Indians use to do. I'm willing to try it. Neighbors might think I'm crazy, but I'm willing to do it anyway!
Pam
It looks like your 'Forest Fire' is a cross. It should have dark stems and calyxes and deep red flowers but if the hummers use it what does it really matter.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
