Longwood is still growing it. One of things the patches show is that the plant grows much better in part shade, because plants close to large shrubs looked much healthier. I agree that the larger splendens forms, Yvonne's, vanhouttei, and Robin's pink are much better hummingbird plants. I have long wondered whether the dwarfing of splendens effected its ability to produce nectar. For annuals in a hummingbird garden the coccinea cultivars and subrotunda are much better choices and to my mind prettier. Florida folks growing for hummingbirds might also consider some of the autumn sages like leucantha, involucrata, and Pineapple Sage. Florida has wintering hummingbirds that could use a sip now and then.

Thank you both for all the info!
I'll make sure the 2 nurserys down here selling
the vanhouttei make the name corrections, too.

We do grow salvias down here.
but because of our warm , humid summer nights
a lot of the salvias putter out.(S. greggii)
The vanhouttei blooms year around down here.
Salvia leucantha - can take what ever Florida dishes out.
The annual salvias, love them.
They bloom fall - winter - spring here.

I will have to keep an eye out for Robin's pink and Paul's offspring................cheryl

I have grown S.splendens how ever it is spelled. 'Van Houttei'is how John Sutton and Betsy Clebsch list it in their books.Being not hardy enough to withstand winter I no longer have them and did no protect them either.
They are much better than the bedding plant forms 'Sizzler'
Salsa,etc..I also protected the Salsa Scarlet & Purple and
some of the other Salsa series seem to be more cold sensitive. Sizzler 'Red Stripe' is returning also. FyI
Art

Cheryl, I'm originally from St. Pete and my folks are still there. S. vanhouttei and 'Paul' both grow very well for my dad as well, and over the past few years I've sent him a few cuttings of other species from my garden here in NC to try. He currently has a S. greggii x microphylla seedling from my garden that's looking good and was just starting to bloom two weeks ago. A S. mexicana seedling that I call 'Elise' was also looking good, with lots of new growth from the base and flower spikes opening. I don't know why you don't see a greater variety of salvias in the nurseries down there. I would think there'd be more interest in trialing them.

My experience with vanhoutteii (esp 'Paul') seedlings is consistent with what Rich says about being mainly orange. I don't even think about buying orange cultivars of vanhoutteii any more, I'm acquiring so many of my own.

Karen , I'm surprised that you don't see
more salvias down here, too.
Only in the dead of summer do you find
the mexican(leucantha), black and blue
and one called bog sage.
At Lue Gardens plant sale they had a tall,
light blue called "Patio"? Had to buy one.

I have never had one of the van houteii produce seed here.
I figured it need more chill hours.
But they're easy to start from cuttings.
And now with the water restrictions down to 4 hours,
once a week, I don't know how many
summer plants I'm going to be growing this year anyway.
Very hard for someone that loves plants like I do.

Please send rain!..........cheryl

I am a bit confused. Van Houttei is sold here as a S. elegans cultivar. I was also under the impression that S. elegans was the botanical name for Pineapple Sage.
I have just acquired a Van houttei with burgundy flowers, along with another S. elegans variety called "Honeymelon" with a lovely pinky tone in the leaves. They both have the distinctive perfume I associate with pineapple sage .. wonder if I can beat the New Holland Honeyeaters to them to see if they taste the same?
Hana

S.Van Houttei is a splendens cultivar. You are correct S.elegans is Pineapple Sage.We have labeling problems here in the States too. There are four S.elegans cultivars(that I
know of)1)Golden Delicious 2)Freda Dixon 3)Sonoran Red and
4)Honeymelon . I see Fruit Scented Sage (Salvia disjuncta)
being listed as S.elegans "Tangerine" which is incorrect also.
Art

When I think of Van Houttei,
I think of it's many, large blooms all facing one way
on a plant thats grows 3' x 3'.

When I look at my pineapple sage 1'x 1',
it has small, petite and not many blooms.

I am far from being an expert,
but there is quite a difference between the two.
Looks like very, very, VERY distant cousins.
The Van Houttei remind me more of annual salvias on steroids...........cheryl

Sorry, just reread my post.
Someone e-mailed me and asked how I could tell the
difference between Van Houtei and pineapple sage.
There is a major difference in size of leaves and blooms.
..........cheryl

Cheryl:
You must have Salvia elegans "Honey Melon" my
Salvia elegans gets 4x4 here and we are much drier
than you are. The other difference is S.splendens
calyx(Part that holds the flower)is the same color as the
flower is.S. elegans has a green calyx with red or pinkish
flowers depending on cultivar.
Art