Years ago I had Rose Queen and it did not persist over the first winter. I have East Friesland, which I don't particularly like because it's too small and the foliage gets ratty, so I dug up 2 or 3 plants and gave them away in a swap. Lo and behold, it resprouted from some leftover roots. Rose Queen I couldn't keep alive, and East Friesland I couldn't kill.

I don't have Marcus, but I've got May Night, Caradonna, and Snow Queen. Also grow Salvia 'Black & Blue'. Got a lot of Salvias, which is weird because mostly I dislike the smell of the foliage!

Rose Queen has been less than steller here too this summer. The flowers have been small and there have not been many of them. I have May Night and it is one of my favorite plants - if you can deal with the smell of the foliage! It starts blooming in May and blooms off and on until frost. The bees love it too and I enjoy watching them climb all over it. It even produced a twin seedling last year, so now I have two.

I also have a three year old Salvia Black And Blue that I expected to be a one year annual only. It keeps on coming back and I like it as well. Let's see, I have S. Snow Hill, which is also a good bloomer and rebloomer. And, I have a huge plant of Salvia Argentine Skies that I didn't expect to see return and it did. We did have a mild winter last year, so we will see if it comes back again. And last but not least, I have a Salvia Patens Patio Deep Blue - another one sold here as annual that surprised me and returned.

Really, Rose Queen is the only dud of the bunch.

Linda

PS I forgot Salvia Coral Nymph that I received in a trade this year. It's definitely also one of my favorite plants and I'm saving seeds for next year since I don't expect it will come back. It has flowered constantly since I planted it. Love the colors in the flowers and it's a favorite of the hummers and bees.

Don't grow Rose Queen so can't comment but did grow Marcus and it was a dud for me too. After 2 seasons I yanked it out and donated to my garden club's plant sale. Snow Hill was also a dud. For me the consistent performers have been Caradonna, May Night, Amethyst. Crimson Royal Distinction.

None of the Salvia x. superba-type varieties have done all that well for me.

I've grown many various hardy and supposedly tender sorts over the years. The only one currently making any garden impact is S. guaranitica (returning semi-dependably and doing very nicely after a mild winter).

'None of the Salvia x. superba-type varieties have done all that well for me.'

me neither. the shrubby microphyllas/jamensis/greggiis though - top plants, even if slightly borderline tender - they are as easy to propagate as blinking, so even if they are killed over winter, a few smuggled away in a coldframe will take their place the following year.

The only salvias I like that have done well for me have been Blue Hill and Black and Blue. I keep hearing that Black and Blue Salvia is a tender perennial. I've had mine for 3 years.

I have resisted the Salvia collection bug that afflicts some gardeners, but still grow at least a couple varieties from seed every year (well alright, more like half a dozen for 2014). The only hardy sort in the garden right now is S. guaranitica which has been coming back for several years in a front yard bed, and which I'm going to mulch this weekend (seeing as -4F is forecast for early next week). There should be a pretty sizable tuberous root down there.

I don't have any salvias on my 2014 wish list and it will probably stay that way although I kind of miss Salvia coccinea. It's not perennial around here, but for years I could count on lots of stray seedlings in the spring. It took them all summer to grow and bloom, but when they finally did, the brilliant red was very nice.

Either they stopped self-sowing or I hoed out all the seedlings one spring and lost them. I might order some seed again this spring if the urge moves me.

Kevin

Kevin, I had the same results with the S. Freisland (a dud) and all the Superba types leave me disinterested because they are sold so commonly in places like Home Depot so they seem on the same level as marigolds to me now. Any deep purple seems to disappear in my garden and its not my favorite.

I do well with Salvia 'Hot Lips' and the greggii types here but they are only hardy in the warmer zones, I think zone 6 is the limit. They do root extremely easy and you can winter cuttings if you want to go to the trouble, they don't seem to resent being dug up and moved either. I have some new ones started from cuttings I took in fall that are now rooted indoors to add more of the new colors I got last summer. Salvia 'Hot Lips' grows really fast and will form a good sized bushy plant in a single season and I think you could just about treat it as an annual in cold areas and use new cuttings each spring.

I added some Cedar Sage last fall under a tree hoping for it to make a ground cover and grew Mealycup sage and Coccinea, these all come up easily from seed and naturalize well.

Some years back I grew clary sage and I am thinking of adding it again, I like the bracts which makes it ornamental for a very long period in summer even after the blooms are spent. J.L. Hudson has one called 'VATICAN CLARY' that has "large white flowers tinged with pink. Nice!" I am thinking of ordering seeds. I'm also looking at 'KASHMIR SAGE' and 'SILVER SAGE' in the catalog. I want to try S. alpiana but at best it would preform as a short lived annual here. I read it grows fast and seeds about so that might work. For $2.50/pack I'd gamble on it. I'm also looking at the native S. hispanica 'CHIA', its a native annual endemic to California, I like those funky ball-like flower heads and it would be a fun returning annual each spring.

eric_oh wrote:

I'm going to mulch this weekend (seeing as -4F is forecast for early next week).

How is this possible 'eric'? Do you not have snow cover which will preclude you adding any mulch?

Most of the Salvia nemorosa types have proven to do very well for me in zone 3, though have seeded out like the dickens and have been removed for that reason. I could have kept them dead headed, though my yard is very large and sometimes I just don't always get around to all tasks, besides I don't miss them anyways ... friend of mine has yarded hers out for the same reason.

As it turns out I probably won't need to mulch tomorrow (we got 4 inches of snow late in the week, and after a "wintry mix" during the day tomorrow the forecast calls for another 2-4 inches, so that should be enough to protect the S. guaranitica (and my Musa basjoo) through the brief expected subzero period (one day is supposed to feature a high of -2F and a low of -16F, terrific).

This area seldom gets big snowfalls, and it often happens that cold plunges follow warm wet weather that completely melts what snow cover was serving as winter protection.

twrosz- what kind of soil do you have?

I like the color of Maynight Salvia, but have not been successful with it coming back every year.

I haven't tried many salvias, but I can say that "May Night" is a top performer in my garden, and I adore "Black and Blue", which I grow as an annual.

I planted Maynight 2 years ago and it didn't do much the first season. Last spring it didn't reappear, so I thought it was a goner. Around July, it suddenly started to sprout. No blooms last year, but I'll see what happens this year.

Kevin

silvergoldenrod ... my soil is silty well draining stuff that has been deeply amended with peat moss. Although, I'm in zone 3 with long and at times bitterly cold temperatures, snow generally comes early and deep and lasts the entire winter, thus winter survival of perennials is usually very good.

I'm in Northern California zone 9 (8 this winter) and have several East Freisland. I cut it down to the ground at least three times a year- as soon as it starts to look ragged. The new bloom flush is fairly rapid. Black and Blue is a thug here, but I love it so I dig out big chunks of it every winter..

Kathy in Napa

I don't have many salvias. Mainly because I have such a tiny garden. There just isn't room!
Salvia involucrata Bethellii grows in summer shade.
I cut it back to ground level in late winter. It grows fast to about 8 feet and flowers from late summer all the way through to late winter again.

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I also have Salvia guaranitica Black and Blue.

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This is a carpenter bee on the flowers. I call him The Bumbler. All the other bees, butterflies, hover flies and other nectar seeking insects, daintily fly in, land gracefully, and sip the nectar. Not this one. He blunders around amongst the flowers, lands as gracefully as a probationary co-pilot and his weight pulls the flower right over, where he hangs on upside down whilst he takes the nectar.
He is very comical to watch, but what I want to know is...how does he know that the colour of the salvia flowers go with his beautiful iridescent wings so well?

I also have Salvia scabra, which I cannot find a close up photo of, but it is a small plant, about 2 feet tall, with soft lavender blue flowers for most of the year.
And Salvia argentea which I love for those big, fat, woolly leaves.

I also have a salvia I bought from a local market stall. No name, but it looks like a microphylla type.
Here it is with a pink argyranthemum.

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The only salvia I have that I would call a dud, is Salvia farinacea Victoria, simply because it behaves as an annual here.
Daisy