Anyone heard of "Goliath Salvia"? Don't remember seeing it mentioned here. The friendly lady at the local plant nursery mentioned today that a friend of hers at a nursery up in New York has raved about this plant. I'm thinking it must be new since she was told they can't ship seeds down here. Anyone?

I have never heard of Goliath Salvia but that doesn't mean too much as I know there must be hundreds that I have never heard of. My first thought was that maybe it is Yvonne's Salvia that someone has dubbed Goliath Salvia. If you can find out the name of the nursery in NY maybe I can find out more info.

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

A new on for me Dell.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

Well, I'm kind of suspicious here. The nursery lady said she had asked her friend to send her some seeds and she told her she couldn't send them to AL. She asked her why, and she told her she couldn't tell her that. Hmm So when I have tried looking for info on the Internet the only place I found "Goliath Salvia" mentioned was on a forum for people who it kind of looked like were growing it to smoke. hmmmm

I don't know whether Goliath is a Salvia divinorum, but it sounds like it may be. S. divinornum is an "abuse" plant that has stirred controversy and attempts to "outlaw" it as a garden plant - in their panic/fervor, some want to outlaw ALL salvias. At least 2 states have made S. divinorum an illegal substance. This was discussed at one time on the Brugmansia forum & memory tells me that the "good stuff" has to be propagated by cuttings. Personally, I'm much more interested in Yvonne's salvia.

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

Dell Like Patrick after doing an extensive search online the only thing I came up with was a divornium forum and if the lady said she couldn't send the seeds and couldn't tell her why I too would be very suspicious and I would pass on thos seeds no matter what the plant looked like

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

Well, she said she gave up on the idea of getting the seeds and thought maybe she could get some plants....obviously if it's a legal thing. She said the lady described the plant as being quite large with very large tubular shaped blooms...red. Actually she had said that the blooms are supposed to be so large a hummer could go all the way inside. I didn't say anything to that, but vaguely I thought I remembered Nancy or someone saying that a hummer stays away from flowers they can disappear into. Is my memory right on that?

OK, I did some asking around and some poking about, and apparently "Goliath Salvia" is sometimes used as a nickname for Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet), not Salvia divinorum (though it may be used for that too, sometimes). Both plants are known to be used in the production of "homebrewed" psychotropic compounds, and either or both are thus illegal in certain jurisdictions.

Insofar as I know, neither is useful for hummingbird gardening, so I'd be inclined (like Patrick) to look at other options.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge LA

When she was telling me about it I thought it sounded like an angel trumpet description...tho why the lady wouldn't just say that to the nursery lady since she already knows what they are is a mystery. She did say tho that the bloom is red. So a new type of angel's trumpet is interesting anyway. I'll stick to the stuff I've already planned on myself.

Speaking of Angels trumpet, or as they call it here, 'Reina de la noche' Queen of the night', the plant I brought over from where we used to live, finally bloomed today, after 31/2 years! It had bloomed prior to moving it.
My Salvia 'Tingo blue' has starting blooming as well.

Kevin, I would be interested in knowing of any "jurisdictions" where growing brugmansias is illegal. While they do contain physcotropic compounds that have been sought out by people looking for hallucinogen-induced states of consciousness, they are known to have a number of extremely unpleasant effects and can be very dangerous, as the potency can vary greatly. None-the-less, like many other potentially poisonous plants, they are recognized as valuable ornamental plants and are rapidly gaining popularity. While the ABUSE of the plants may be illegal in some areas, I strongly doubt that they have been made illegal to grow. Can you provide a link giving evidence to the contrary? I would really like to read it. Anyone with approximately 200 of these plants WOULD be interested!

As for a red brugmansia, that color is pretty much limited to the B. sanguinea, which is difficult to grow & bring into bloom in most of the U.S., as successful flowering has a very limited temperature range (mostly between 50F-60F and temperatures above 71F seem to inhibit flowering). Red, purple & blue are colors that brugmansia hybridizers are hoping to achieve in other brugmansias one day.

Patricia, congrats on bringing your brugmansia into bloom. Is it a species from the wild? I know they are found in Costa Rica, as well as a number of countries south of you. I read that many of the species do not flower as freely as the hybrids most of us in the U.S. have available to us. As I rode through CR, I kept my eyes open for one blooming in the wild, but saw only plants that had been intentionally placed...I was always excited to spot even those!

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

Patrick, how are your hybrid experiments coming? Did you see anything last summer that got you excited? After 15 year I let my only brugmansia freeze last fall and for the first time in a really long time the garden will have no Brugmansia. I am not sure how I feel about that.

Interesting info Patrick. I bet your yard is gorgeous!
dell

Patrick, I got it from a friend who probably got it from the wild. You can see hundreds of these plants growing along the road from Turrialba to Cartago. Next to the river in our town,there is a 'mass' of them. Considering that they are obviously neglected, they arre very healthy looking!





When I read my Costa Rica plant book today, I was surprised that I had never noticed it before, saying that they is that a double flowered B.sanguinea seems to be quite common here. I have never seen any, but maybe at higher altitudes

Patrick,

Absolutely right, I misspoke. The salivia divinorum is illegal to buy, sell, or possess in a variety of states, depending on the circumstances.

Brugmansia is illegal only in Louisiana (as far as I know) and only when sold/distributed in parts intended for human consumption (LA R.S. 40:989.1), but as far as I know, you can still sell the plant itself - again, unless you're selling them specifically for people to make drugs from. How you'd prove that, I don't know, but that's what the law reads.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge, LA

"Brugmansia is illegal only in Louisiana (as far as I know) and only when sold/distributed in parts intended for human consumption.."

Anyone that consumes or smokes brugmania is an idiot, good grief. They ARE addictive to growm though..lol.. right guys?

(Kevin- see brug forum link at bottom of the page).

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a