Hi Penny, That numerosa looks like farinacea. Sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: salvia farinacea/mealy sage

Sarah,
It does look somewhat like fainacea in the picture. The fainacea I have seen close up looked a bit different. When I bought the seeds for this plant last spring the packet was labeled Violet Blue Salvia so I called the company and asked them what was the botanical name and they told me Numerosa (of course they could be wrong). I also asked them what the hardiness zone was for this plant and they told me down to zone 6. So I am basically going by what they said. This is my first year with it so I will see how hardy it is for me this winter. At first I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the blooms were smaller than my B&B but it made such a nice bold statement in front of some of the taller plants that I decided to plant out as many as I had room for. The packet also says that they will bloom from late spring to frost.

Penny

Penny- I have had the nemerosa for several years and never saw a hummer go to it...I read somewhere that this cultivar has had the nectar bred out of it!..if you vouch for the splendens,I will be using it next year in a patch and as a border;I have avoided most hybrids because of reports that the newer man-made flowers often are not the right shape anymore for hummers to use[i.e. double flowers]
and that the nectar content and quality is adversely affected!makes sense to me from what I see
Fergi

Fergi and all
The seeds are not salvia numerosa they are salvia farinacea. The original seeds that I bought were misllabled.

Penny