Does anyone know how long SALPIGLOSSIS blooms for? I'm trying to decide whether to buy seed or not. (Non hummer, I know.) I need some blueeeeeee in my garden...arrgghhh! lol.

(Not light or sky blue.) I'm looking for a medium blue flower that can compete with all the pink, red and yellow I have in place, and a plant that blooms awhile like the salvias, agastaches, coreopsis, and buddleias. Any suggestions for something that's not low to the ground like petunias?

Gee, I don't want much, do I?


Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

You probably already have salvia guaranitica, Maryjane, but it's BY FAR the favorite plant of the hummers here - nothing else even comes close. And those electric blue flowers are to die for! I've got the species and 'Black&Blue' and I find that the species makes more blooms.
I've got a blue butterfly bush cultivar 'Ellen's Blue' that is very vigorous - the mid-blue flowers are visited mainly by butterflies, but also by hummers from time to time.
I love blue flowers, too - the color is beautiful, and it blends with every other flower color.

Sherry

No, I don't have that one Sherry, but thanks for the tip! I did have some black and blue that stayed small and eventually a mole took it out. Where the other salvias flourished this B&B I bought off EBay didn't do well at all.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my thread.

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

Salpaglosis should be an everbloomer. I'm not sure how it will do in your humid heat, I suspect it won't like it. They aren't seen much on the annual tables here in South Jersey and that may be why. As I recall they loved coastal California. I have never seen a hummingbird at one.

Would Salvia azurea be a possibility or would it be too pale a blue? It has some height to it, has a long blooming season, and as a southeastern native, it should do just fine in heat and humidity. It wouldn't be hardy for me up here in PA, so I've never tried it. Still, I've thought about it, since it seems a nice blue flowering plant.

Would Platycodon work? I don't know how it would do in heat and humidity, and it probably doesn't bloom as long as Salvia azurea. It's tough as nails here in my western PA garden.

Maybe one of the Nepetas, but none of them are all that tall. I think hummingbirds might use these. I saw a hummer using a weedy, unidentified catnip type plant that grew up by our door.

There are also blue Agastaches. They're probably better at attracting bees than hummingbirds.

Verbena hastata?

I have the same impression about Salpiglossis--that it wouldn't like the heat. Seems like a plant for the Pacific northwest.

Kristin
I grow Salvia azurea grandiflora and it has been a very hardy perennial for me here in wny. It is planted in are area that catches all the snow and wind with little protection. It also gets very little water except when it rains and periodically in a very dry summer. They are hardy I believe to zone 5. It doesn't bloom until the end of August or early Sept.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

That's good news, Penny, on the hardiness of S. azurea. Maybe I will try it some day--as if my garden isn't crowded enough already! Somehow, I thought they were a little more marginal here in zone 6, but if you're growing them in zone 6, they obviously are hardy. Are there different subspecies of this, some perhaps less hardy? Maybe that's how I got that impression. I suspect you get a little more snow than we do, and maybe that insulating layer helps your plants get through the winter.

It's hard to think of plants that would work for her. There aren't tons of mid blue flowering plants of the right height, so I'm trying not to censor myself too much. I don't think any of my suggestions are perfect. I'm just naming anything that seems half way possible and hoping Mary Jane can sort it out.

Kristin
S. azurea grandiflora can eventually grow to 5-6 ft. tall but can be kept shorter by pinching it back until June. I let mine go because it is on a corner and they do get to 6ft. and usually need staking because of the wind. The spot they are in doesn't get much snow cover because it usually blows away... a couple of inches at the most and I have never mulched this plant again because the wind would blow it all away. It grows very easily from seed. Salvia azurea 'Nekan' is a shorter version (3ft) and is actually somehwhat hardier (zone 4-5)

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

You guys are the best! This is exactly what I was seeking. Thank you, thank you!

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

Thanks, Penny. It certainly does sound like it would be completely hardy here in western PA. Our climates are very similar, I think. I also have a question for you--Do you like Salvia azurea? Is it pretty? Do you think it might work for Mary Jane?

Kristin,

I looked that salvia up on the 'Net, and I love it! I'm going to search EBay to see if anyone has seeds for it. Thanks so much!

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

Ok, I'm officially in love. (I just hope this looks as good in person as it does on their website, lol.) Here's my "blue" that I ordered seeds for the Spring:

Salvia x superba Blue Queen



Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

How about delphiniums? I think they come in 2-3 shades of blue, as well as other colors. Also, there are some nice blue hydrangeas...require acidic soil to bloom blue...if your soil is alkaline, you might need to add a fertilizer meant for acid-preferring plants such as camellias, azaleas & rhododendrons. If I remember correctly, aluminum sulphate helps acidify soil. And of course, there are the corn flowers (batchelor buttons). How about a vine? Heavenly Blue morning glory.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Delphiniums I've tried...along with Foxglove and a few other plants that just don't like my soil. I've planted and replanted them to no avail. I grow camellias, azaleas & rhododendrons elsewhere in the yard as stand alone plantings.

I'm hoping this blue salvia cross will fill the bill. I also ordered:



Strawberries & Cream Daisy

and



along with another coreopsis




... to add more color, and the entire order was a little over $8. (These plants are for me, and the hummers will have all the rest, lol!)

Now that I have this garden really going I'm all excited to see what it can amount to.


Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a