AWESOME photos! Thanks for posting.

Those are really great photos. I've never been able to take good phots of blue flowers.

Some of my hummer plants get neglected. My cuphea ignea is doing great and for a while attracted hummers, but now they fly right past it - above it to the coral honeysuckle and behind to that nasty black & blue - pearls before swine.

Great pictures of what looks like a young fella. I bet he enjoyed that!

Wonderful pictures.

Those are great photos Excellent!! Sarah

Very nice! They do love that B&B.

Beautiful pics, Bruce!!
I also planted Black and Blues this spring. They had a hard time getting established because of the spring winds shredding the leaves. I moved them to a less windy spot, (which was kind of hard to find). The HBs do love it and so do I!! B&Bs have earned a permanent spot in my hummer habitat. Linda

Amazing photos!

My Black and Blue has been a great success. Just about every hummer visit includes a stop at the B&B. I would assume that hummingbirds find it last since they are naturally attracted to red flowers. Next spring I will put B&B next to something red. Or should I leave it in the same place? Do they remember from year to year?

fantastic photos, nice job. is that pollen on its head?

Bruce
My hummers didn't pay much attention to my B&B this year for a while. Once it went into full blown bloom they haven't left it alone. Between the new one I bought memorial week end, the one from last year, the 3 I grew from seed and one cutting that I rooted out in the yard from a piece I broke off accidentally I now have 6 and may take some more cuttings this month just in case these 6 don't make it over the winter. It is a definite staple in my yard. I am glad it finally worked out for you. The flowers are a knockout amidst all the red hummer plants.

Penny

I agree with this being a excellent hummer plant. The time is coming for someone to tell us how to overwinter it in the North, and how to do cuttings.

Birdlegs read this thread on the salvia forum and see what Richard Dufresne says about wintering over guaranitica He's the salvia expert. Hope it helps. Sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: Guaranitica thread on salvia forum

Just a quick side note on cuttings.

Last week when I was extending the length of the bed along the fence, I broke a couple of stems when the shovel fell. I stuck them in the ground right away and watered them alot for about 4 or 5 days. They have successfully rooted and I plan on digging them up and putting them in containers and bringing them inside for the winter.

Normally you would take cutting just below a leaf node as that is where the roots will form. strip all the flowers and leaves except for 2 or 3 leaves and place the cutting in moist well draining potting mix or sand and perlite mix. Place a clear plastic bag over the container with holes poked in the bag for aspiration. Mist the cutting if it starts to dry out before the roots form. Sometimes cuttings can be rooted in water but most of the time they will rot before roots form. Late summer and early spring seem to work best for this plant.

Another thing about salvias in containers....because the air is so dry inside in winter, salvias are susceptible to white fly infestation. I have the best luck keeping mine in the kitchen which seems to be a bit more humid due to cooking,etc. Also setting the plants on a tray of wet pebbles helps and grouping them all together helps to increase the humidity. You can also put plastic bags again over the plant to keep them from becoming too dry. The trick is not to overwater. Water well and then let the surface soil dry slightly before watering again. You can also mist the plants in between watering just to increase their humidity a bit.

Penny

Thanks for the tips Penny! I'm wondering if I can take milk cartons like in winter sowing and make mini greenhouses for some tip cuttings and get them started that way. Then pot them up as they get bigger and more established. I've never had a lot of luck with plastic bags. Think that would work?

glo

Glo,
tip cutting tend not to be as sturdy but if you do have some nice thick stems those would be better. The milk jugs though should work real well. You could also use 2 litre pop bottles cut off to make cloches for the plants after they are potted up or take cuttings now and root them in the ground with pop bottle over the top. I have done that with cuttings also with lots of success.

Penny

AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
Why can't my pictures of the hummer on the B&B come out so GORGEOUS?!?!?!?

On another note, I had a blackened broken stem that I figured I'd stick in the pot to see what happens. It had looked extremely pathetic for about 2 weeks, but IT WORKED! It's green and growing! Now, I can't propagate plants for the life of me, so I'm extremely impressed with how easy this was. I wonder if I'll remember to do this again before it frosts ;)

It's amazing, isn't it Tracey? I actually bought 2 plants of B & B and had originally planted them in the same trough with my Jacob Cline monarda. That was a BIG mistake (the monarda grew like crazy, shading the poor lilttle salvia that I knew wouldn't bloom until much later). I ended up transplanting the B & B into its own trough but some stems broke while doing it. I simply stuffed them into the new trough with the mother plants, kept them watered, and they all grew and are blooming now!