Does anybody grow this salvia? I love big red salvias, and this looks like a good possibility for my next purchase, assuming I can find it to order. I would like to have it in the same bed where I have a lot of S. guaranitica. I think the electric blue and the red would be beautiful - or gaudy? - together. If I planted a white salvia with them, it would be down right patriotic!

Are S. gesneraeflora's flowers true red? Are they as big ****. guaranitica's blooms? And, most importantly, does it thrive in the Deep South? How about cold tolerance? Does it spread outward from the roots, that is, will it eventually cover the entire bed?

Any help would be appreciated!

Sherry

Sherry if I am not mistaken the flowers are as big or bigger han S. guaranitica and does best in warmer climates. I don't know if it spreads by underground stolons but it seems to me that I read that it does but not sure. I do know that it gets REALLY REALLY BIG (like maybe 10ft. tall or taller) in the right location. I have always wanted to grow it but it wouldn't do well for me up here. I believe it is one of the parent plants of Purple Majesty

Here is one online source that I just ran across while looking for something else. They are in Doulas Georgia http://vincentgardens.com/Salvia-gesneraeflora-Tequlia-Big-Mexican-Scarlet-Sage-P1691222.aspx

Penny
NY
USDA hardiness zone 6a
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Thanks, Penny!

Sherry

We grew this salvia in Madison, Wisconsin one season. It grew very large, over 6 feet tall, but it never flowered. I decided to bring it inside and it flowered with extremely large and brilliant flowers in February in our sunroom. I decided to not try this one again. We did see a beautiful stand of it at the Huntington Botanic Garden in LA and it was loaded with hummers. If you live in a warm climate with a long growing season, it would be a great salvia to try, but for those of us in the Upper Midwest it's not a good choice. Amazing that they crossed this salvia with Salvia guarantica to get Salvia 'Purple Majesty."!



Kathi and Michael Rock
Madison, Wisconsin
Zone 4/5

This is one of the top salvias on my wish list. However, it is a winter bloomer, so would probably not work unless I had a sunroom/greenhouse. The picture I saw of a blooming specimen was amazing.

Priya
Zone 7, Maryland

Well, I guess I'll just have to try it!

I've got a S. regla that I love that I've had for several years, but the branches are too weak to support the flowers. I've got the plant tied to the fence in my garden, so it won't all be on the ground. When I first got this plant, it only bloomed in fall, but it's blooming now!



Hopefully, S. gaesneraeflora will have stronger branches! I like S. regla so well, though, I think I'll try and root some to plant in other spots by fences. :/

I'm in southeast Mississippi 25 miles north of the Coast, with variable winters, but it only goes under 25 degrees about ?once every 5 winters or so. It's definitely worth a try!

Sherry

It starts blooming at around Christmas here, depending... there are a few different cultivars of it available. It indeed gets huge. It's one of my favorite salvias. I like the big monsters.

Bay Area, CA

I ordered S. gesneraeflora 'Tequilia' (or is it 'Tequilla'?) from Vincent Gardens. Also, S. leucantha 'Phyllis Fancy' because Nancy said on another thread that her hummers were using it, and S. longistyla/long tubed sage. The long tubed sage is supposed to need shade, which I've got plenty of in my garden.

I can't wait! My plantaholicism rages!

Sherry

Sherry,

Salvia gesneraeflora struggled and croaked in the hot, humid summer more than once here in New Orleans. I do know of one surviving for a single summer in Baton Rouge. I don't recall if I had Salvia gesneraeflora 'Tequila' or some other form. The hybrid Salvia 'Purple Majesty' struggled as well, but it usually flowered in spring, died back in summer, and then emerged again in late fall. It did not get a lot of usage, but I loved the color.

I've grown Salvia longistyla for about 5 years though I lost a big plant to last summer's heat. It grows well for me in the shadiest spot in the yard, but it often gets broken by animals that leap over the fence where it is planted. The cranberry red flowers emerge in December. They are quite elegant, but have seen little hummer attention.

Salvia regla comes from arid, mountainous regions. I had one plant that I had grown from seed acquired in the Big Bend country of western Texas for more than 15 years. Because it is a desert plant, I grow it in a large terra cotta container to keep the roots from staying too moist. The current plant has a different origin but it grows floppy as you described. That is because in nature, this plant is often found on cliff faces where it can drape itself over the boulders. Normally, this species flowers in fall, but mine is also in flower now and it has seen some action from the migrants passing through.

If you are looking for fall to winter blooming plants, I highly recommend Salvia purpurea 'Lavender Lace'. And, yes, Salvia 'Phyllis's Fancy' has been a big winner for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9b
http://www.casacolibri.net/

Nancy, my S. regla, as with all my garden plants, is in a raised bed. If not for raised beds, I doubt that I'd be able to grow any salvias (maybe bog sage?) except the 'weed' S. lyrata. Butterfly bushes died over the winter for me until I made these raised beds.

It's disappointing to hear the S. gesneraeflora didn't survive the N.O. heat and humidity, because I've got H & H here, too, although maybe a little less of each. Who knows though? It's worth trying!

I assume the 'Phyllis Fancy' likes sunshine?

There are plenty of shady places where I can plant the S. longistyla. That's where the S. regla is, in the shade, and it still blooms, although it does get plenty of light and a ray here and there.

By the way, Nancy, when I went to my little local nursery the last time, her employee said she didn't have any hummers this year, wanted to know if I had seen any. She was the second person in this area who's told me the same thing, the other person said she just saw her first one of the season the other day. I've got them here, as a matter of fact, a female-looking one came to the feeder and displayed what looked like male behavior, that is, flew at an adult male. So I'm wondering if this was a baby male, maybe just fledged? I've also seen what appear to be adult females, one that might be a baby female, as well as adult males. So all is well here, but I'm wondering if you've heard whether or not the numbers of RTs are down this year?



Sherry
Zone8/9

Sherry asked: "when I went to my little local nursery the last time, her employee said she didn't have any hummers this year, wanted to know if I had seen any. She was the second person in this area who's told me the same thing, the other person said she just saw her first one of the season the other day. I've got them here, as a matter of fact, a female-looking one came to the feeder and displayed what looked like male behavior, that is, flew at an adult male. So I'm wondering if this was a baby male, maybe just fledged? I've also seen what appear to be adult females, one that might be a baby female, as well as adult males. So all is well here, but I'm wondering if you've heard whether or not the numbers of RTs are down this year?"

NLN: Populations are generally cyclic with boom seasons and bust seasons. It is possible that one area may be experiencing a boom while another is going bust. Where we band, the population has been depressed since Hurricane Katrina. We have been seeing pretty good numbers of breeders this season, but I do not expect numbers to ever return to pre-Katrina levels because many, many trees were lost to the storm and many, many more were removed pre-emptively. Ruby-throateds like to have trees around in their nesting habitat - at least here in Southern Louisiana.

It seems a bit early for young to be fledged. A successful nesting requires approximately 6 weeks. At our site, we see females carrying eggs around the first of April, occasionally late March. The earliest fledged young I know of in our area is 18 May, but I suppose it is possible for a few youngsters to have fledged already.

Newly fledged youngsters will show buffy or brownish edges to the green feathers of their crowns, napes, and rumps. This early in the season, if you see birds that are shining green on their crowns, napes, and rumps, they are not likely young of the year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, Louisiana USA
USDA Zone 9b
http://www.casacolibri.net/

Thanks, Nancy - she must have just been a feisty female!

I know what you mean about Katrina - it's changed everything wildlife related here. And, as you suggest, it's not just the immediate effect of the hurricane, it's the aftermath also. Many people cleaned up their SEVERELY damaged woods by cutting everything down. We didn't, we went to the extreme trouble of dealing with each fallen tree individually. I have 5 1/2 acres of mature woods, so this has been a huge task, to say the least, both in money cost and labor (mine) cost. But I still have a real woods, since most of the loss was with those $#%@ loblolly pines! The oaks, southern magnolias, cherries, long-leaf pines, etc. withstood the winds real well. I've been pulling up loblolly seedlings since 2005 and will continue to do so - they damaged, even killed many good trees where they fell. But the result of our work is, we still have woods, and it's amazing how quickly the trees still standing have grown, plus the MANY I've added, including some different varieties. That's probably why I'm the one with hummers - I've still got dense woods.

In another thread, they discuss tulip poplars. I had a HUGE, leaning tulip poplar in the bottom of the hollow that went down, broke my heart!! The others in the vicinity stood, but they've not made many seedlings, so I've got three tulip poplars in containers to plant out this fall. I didn't know that hummers used the flowers, because they're so high up I can't begin to see them. I only see them when a stiff wind breaks off a branch with blooms on it and they wind up on the ground.

My order got messed up at Vincent Gardens, so I wound up e-mailing Donna, and I added the S. purpurens 'Lavender Lace' - 'can't wait for it to get here!


Sherry
Zone8/9