Salvia 2015/2016

[fermi de Sousa]

Salvia 'African Skies' x2;
Salvia muirii x 2
cheers
fermi

[Robert]

Lovely Salvias Fermi!

[meanie]

I'd forgotten about this thread.

Lovely Salvias Fermi!

I agree! S.muirii looks interesting!

Here S.leucantha is enjoying the mild weather thet we've had so far.............


Salvia confertiflora has finally started to bloom four months late which sums up the summer of 2015 rather well!

[Robert]

meanie,

Salvia confertiflora will bloom in the late summertime for you? Here in our part of California it has always been a fall - winter bloomer. I am not sure how it behaves near the California coast. Maybe it blooms late summer there too?

Are the Salvias growing outside? Even at our bungalow in the Sacramento Valley there has been frost. S. confertiflora always seemed tender and needed to be grown next to a wall or the house to survive the winter. S. leucantha was tender too, but could withstand a bit more frost and still remain alive.

Right now Salvia semiatrata is the only Salvia in bloom at our Sacramento bungalow. At the farm it tried to snow last night and we had black ice everywhere this morning. At the farm, winter weather looks to stay for awhile. Needless to say there is not much activity in the garden now.

Thanks for sharing the photographs! It brings back good memories when I grew tender plants such as many of the Salvias.  I guess this is my vicarious fix with these types of plants. 

[meanie]

S.confertiflora is a late summer through to the frost bloomer here. I just dig it up and chuck it in a large pot late October as it seems too tender for the UK. This photo was taken at the beginning of September last year.................


 S.leucantha is just about hardy in a sheltered spot with sharp drainage.

My first year from seed S.semiatrata is just budding up along with S.gesneriiflora and S.lasianthe.

A few of note from 2015;
For some reason S.patens was especially good..............


S.urica struggled a bit..............


S.atrocyanea..............


Salvia Royal Bumble from seed sent by Hans...............

[Robert]

meanie,

Great looking Salvias! 

It was a good year for the various forms of Salvia patens here at the farm (only in containers). The Salvias planted in the ground were completely destroyed by the rodents.    They did not eat the roots, they just continued to tunnel under the plants all summer until the plants gave up (the irrigation went somewhere else). I covered them with row cover to get them through last winter hoping for a good show this year. Only S. guaranitica surrived the whole summer season. I did not bother to cover any of them with row cover this fall and I am sure that they are all dead now. Lots of frost this autumn!

I do have a few tender species in containers that I brought down to our bungalow in Sacramento where they will survive the winter.

There are some nice California native Salvias in the garden here at the farm. They look good and survive without much care at all. Many have very fragrant foliage which is a balm all year!  I am trying some of the xeric African species and will see how they do.

[meanie]

Robert,
I have found S.guaranitica to be perfectly hardy here in the UK given good drainage so I would have thought that yours would be ok. As with all drainage dependent plants if the prevailing soil is less than perfect I lift them every couple of years in the spring, turn the soil in the area adding a bit more grit and sand before replanting. My thinking behind it is that soil does compact and "silt up" over time. It's also a good time to nab a few of the creeping rhizomes for new plants.

[Hoy]

Meanie,

You grow a lot of beautiful salvias!

I have wanted to grow a red/crimson salvias outside here but none seems to be hardy enough. Do you have any to recommend?

[meanie]

Meanie,

You grow a lot of beautiful salvias!

I have wanted to grow a red/crimson salvias outside here but none seems to be hardy enough. Do you have any to recommend?

How extreme are your Norwegian winters?
The hardiest will be S.microphylla...................


Royal Bumble is probably closest to the colour that you're after but I have no idea about the absolute hardiness so far...........


S.stolonifera is surprisingly hardy and actually prefers moist conditions............


It's not the most floriferous but the foliage is not unattractive...........


If a frost free greenhouse or similar is available S.gesneriiflora is a good spring bloomer in northern Europe............

[Robert]

Trond,

Meanie is correct. Salvia microphylla in its various forms are fairly cold hardy. I have some plants that have over-wintered every year (well over a decade) without any protection at all. I have not even given any consideration for soil drainage in our clay soil. It has easily been -8 C some winters and it generally always gets to -7 C.

Salvia microphylla var. grahamii is low growing and has good red flowers over a very long period of time. Some of the other forms of S. microphylla will grow much taller, however there are many color selections. There is also a long list of red flowering hybrids. A list that gets longer every year, at least around here.

I think that there is a good chance that one of the red forms will grow well for you.

meanie,

Actually quite a number of the "tender" Salvias have over-wintered and regrown from the roots here at our farm. Generally, they grow much weaker the next growing season after re-sprouting, but then I have to admit that I have made no effort to improve the soil drainage every few years. After a few seasons they have all given up. Part of the situation may very well be climatic. Many species that are "hardy" in the maritime Pacific Northwest U.S.A. are not hardy here with more or less the same temperatures. Our climate is much more "continental" which may explain the different.

[Hoy]

How extreme are your Norwegian winters?

Meanie,

My winters are not extreme - at least not when it comes to temperature. Last winter the coldest month was February with a monthly mean of 3.9C. The coldest night was -7.6C.

Precipitation is another issue. Rain, rain rain; and fog; and wind!

Here at home the moisture is the worst enemy I think. At my summerhouse the temperature is slightly colder in winter but warmer in summer and it is much drier. I think I will try those you mention both places!

[Hoy]

Robert,

think I will go for microphylla! But I will try the other ones as well

Any hue of red will do!

[meanie]

Meanie,

My winters are not extreme - at least not when it comes to temperature. Last winter the coldest month was February with a monthly mean of 3.9C. The coldest night was -7.6C.

Precipitation is another issue. Rain, rain rain; and fog; and wind!

Here at home the moisture is the worst enemy I think. At my summerhouse the temperature is slightly colder in winter but warmer in summer and it is much drier. I think I will try those you mention both places!

A good source for Salvia seed is Robin Middleton. Send an email to him using the link at the bottom of the following page to request a seed list which comes out in the new year..................

http://www.robinssalvias.com/index.html

Robin is a good bloke so you may want to ask him for advice as well.

I may have some seed left over for "Royal Bumble" from HansJ - I'll take a look over the holiday period.

meanie,

Actually quite a number of the "tender" Salvias have over-wintered and regrown from the roots here at our farm. Generally, they grow much weaker the next growing season after re-sprouting, but then I have to admit that I have made no effort to improve the soil drainage every few years. After a few seasons they have all given up. Part of the situation may very well be climatic. Many species that are "hardy" in the maritime Pacific Northwest U.S.A. are not hardy here with more or less the same temperatures. Our climate is much more "continental" which may explain the different.

I agree as far as the more tender species/cultivars go but when it comes to S.guarantica I do consider it hardy given that small bit of extra love.
A few weeks ago we saw -5°c and all my S.urica were cut to the ground. All are now reshooting from the base of the plant now and if that is as bad as our winter gets they'll survive. But I suspect that more frosts later on will finish them off for good.

[Hoy]

A good source for Salvia seed is Robin Middleton. Send an email to him using the link at the bottom of the following page to request a seed list which comes out in the new year..................

...

Robin is a good bloke so you may want to ask him for advice as well.

I may have some seed left over for "Royal Bumble" from HansJ - I'll take a look over the holiday period.
 ...

Thanks meanie Think I will contact Robin also.

[Maggi Young]

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