Ward my salvias are not blooming real well right now. I am looking forward to more blooms when the weather cools off.

Mine are blooming wonderfully the hummers love them the only one that changes is the hot lips sometimes it's all white sometimes red and white. Can I ask you about your salvia ugliosa Mine isn't doing very well at all I had one bloom last week then no blooms and it looks as though what few plants I had are dissapearing. Where did you buy yours?When did it start blooming?And did it survive winter outside in your garden? Thanks Sarah

I have only one greggii this year - Wild Thing - it's never been covered with blooms but it seems pretty steady.

Lisa

More on Uliginosa - It barely survived the winter, a few sprouts away from the main plant. Mostly what is there now is from last fall's rooted cuttings. The cutting began to bloom on the porch in March and continued to bloom during their hardening off period outside during April (I put then in the garage during bad weather). After they were planted on about May 10 they commenced rapid growth with a few flowerheads. By mid June they were about 5 feet tall with moderate flowering, and had reached about 7 feet by early to mid July. As they grew they constantly put out more shoots from the leaf axils, until by now there are greater than fifty flower stalks, not all of which are in bloom yet. This morning there were several hundred flowers on the plant. As I mentioned somewhere else, this appears to be a morning nectar plant, as the day passes there are fewer and fewer flowers until by evening nearly all have dropped. Based on last year's first attempt, the flowering will probably get heavier as summer progresses into fall.

I bought this plant from a woman who has a small plant stand on Hartford Rd in Mt Laurel, NJ. She was not selling any salvias this year. If you want some of mine, I'm sure it can be arranged.

Do you think your garden conditions might be effecting your ability to grow this plant? My soil is a light sandy loam with a sand clay subsoil, and you have said you have fairly heavy clay. Perhaps some other forum member has experience growing Bog Sage in clay? The particular garden also has full sun from about 8:30 AM until nearly sunset.

Finally, this plant grows so well it is a bit scary. Someone in zone 8 might want to grow it in a weedy waste area, but it might just be too big and fast growing to be safe in a well tended garden. Even here in south Jersey it could end up being a pest.

Sorry you having trouble, we all have something that gives us trouble. Believe it or not, I have never been able to grow beautiful Purple Cone Flowers.

Thanks for the info Ward. My limited experience with it last year was like yours It spread and bloomed most of the summer. Where I have it is next to the obedient flower which is agressive and invasive but they are both the same height. I think I got a seedling or two from last year's plant. This year I ordered it from Crownsville nursery. Last year from Flower scent gardens I think they were larger plants. Another thing I think this salvia likes to get wet and where it is it's hard to water I will dig mine up and bring inside this winter thanks again. Sarah

From what I've been given to understand, despite its name, Bog Sage doesn't really like a lot of moisture, especially in winter. You could just take cuttings and see what happens. Of all the plants I've ever rooted from cuttings, this is the easiest, even easier than Black & Blue.

I jsut found this site but wanted to comment on the greggi's if I could....the only ones I find to bel reliable to bloom spring to fall is "raspberrry delight". Mine start in mid May and bloom all the way until the late fall. The heat will slow them a bit but they have a continous bloom. Not sure the techincal terms but the flowers seem to form on the end of the branch and then that "flower stalk" will get longer and longer and the blooms are usually at the end. By the end of the season they have a somewhat dropping effect. I can rely on them to give me hummingbird food all summer. I have tried all kinds of other greggi, but none have been like the Raspberry Delight. Hope that help someone.....

JNine - My Raspberry Delight currently has a few blooms. It would be doing better if it hadn't suffered quite a bit of breakage in June. The upside is that there are now 17 rooted cuttings from that breakage out in the veggie garden. Delight is only part greggi, it is I believe a hybrid with microphylla.

The microphylla San Carlos Festival is the one that has had the steadiest bloom for me. Right now the plants are retooling, and are just starting to show evidence of what will hopefully be dozens of flower spikes by late August. I'm very excited about San Carlos Festival, if it proves winter hardy it will be a great addition to mid Atlantic hummingbird plants since it grows vigorously in our hot and humid summers.

Please let us know your insights, and don't worry to much about correct terms. All of us are here to learn and share, and speaking only for myself, occasionally looking foolish. What the heck, if I really make an ass of myself I can go hide behind my uliginosa patch until everyone forgets. Welcome.

Thanks for the info and the kindness Ward....I bought the RD quite some time ago whe I was just beginning to get into gardening and they have been a great plant to have, take our 100+ heat and full sun, whilst continuing to bloom and provide food for the hummers. I did not have much luck with San Carlos Festival being winter hardy at my house but it also could have been the very wet winter that killed it off. Good luck with yours!

I have a problem even getting the hummers to feeders, they much prefer the plants I have. I put out a new feeder last week, due to us having 108 temps and I thought they may need some easy food source to conserve energy, but they have not used it much. I changed the solution every other day but still not much. I guess they have enough in the plants which is fine too. I just enjoy watching the hummers flying around! I constantly get new plants that will feed them. I look forward to learning more!

Your winters are so mild compared to ours, so I don't like hearing about winter hardiness problems with San Carlos Festival. It worries me. Last winter here was one of the wettest winters on record, if it wasn't raining it was snowing, and if not snowing we had an ice storm. And yet, given all that, several of our other regulars reported greggiis and microphyllas coming through OK, including several with clay soil. Every place has its challenges, unless you happen to live in Santa Barbara.

Ward and JNine I am pretty sure at least one and possibly two of my many greggii microphylla and other related salvias are san carlos festival and they will come back I have had them for the past two years and they are stronger than ever I think they are microphylla They are like a fuscha hot pink currently not blooming but very healthy shrub. I bought them at the herb sale in chester springs in 2003. The reason I know is I keep finding the tag. I am very lucky this year with my greggii/microphyllas I'm not sure why but I think it was because the ground stayed frozen longer this past winter I had alot less heaving (freezing-thawing) and the greggii's ,microphylla's came thru with flying colors. Unfortunately I can't say the same for salvia ugliosa and a few other salvias like involucrata which doesn't usually bloom for me until August but is blooming for others in my area salvia penstemoides which I bought this spring also salvia darcy which bloomed beautifully for me last summer like ugliosa but this summer not one bloom but at least the plants getting taller . But the good news is salvia cacafolia up until this past week was doing wonderfully as is salvia buchanii,miniata and the eyelash sage blepharophylla one in shade is doing much better than the one in the sun which is getting lighter it started out as a brilliant red but is now pale pink . salvia sinaoensis is blooming beautifully all summer as is salvia urica I love it! and My biggest surprise is salvia discolor it's beautiful the leaves are very different and the flowers look black. I love new world salvias! even though they can give me a hard time. Sarah

Sara you are so far ahead of me with your variety of salvias. You just mentioned about a half dozen that I've been wanting to try. I get to the wall on plant purchases in the spring. At some point the budget gets maxed out, and each additional purchase causes additional guilt. Many of the plants you've mentioned I've never seen for sale locally, and as the guilt gets heavier the first thing to go is more mail order plants. Where do you keep all your plants, I didn't think species like eyelash sage were hardy here. It sound like you love them all, but if you have to choose a few, which ones would they be and why?

Ward my budget is totally broken in June and my adult "kids" tell me I need to get a real job so I can pay for their clothes etc. Anyway back to salvias, number one I highly recomend the annual herb fair in Chester Springs it's a blast the trick is to come an hour before the official opening with a wagon and make a dash to the salvia table they have quite a few rare ones and I spent about fourty dollars this year. Plus the people that go are so much fun real characters.

As far as what salvias I recomend right now that are "hardy" are the greggii,microphyllas,coahuilensis, lycioides hybrids. The hummers and I love them. Also salvia urica this I bought last year and this at crownsville nursery and the hummers and I love it equally. The hummers like it at least as much as the guaraniticas and I love it more (it smells better and is hardy for me)! For now these are my favorite hardy salvias. Sarah

I was looking up info on salvia greggii and found this post from last year. I have salvia greggii Cherry Queen which started blooming around mid April and Lipstick which is just starting to bloom. Such a big difference in bloom time! Cherry Queen was planted in 2004 and I planted Lipstick in 2005 so it may just be a difference in maturity. ???
After reading this, I put Raspberry Delight and San Carlos Festival on my wish list and will watch for them although most nurseries don't have salvia greggii here. What other cultivars should I watch for? Is it typical for them to bloom so early?

Christie please check your e-mail.