Well, I would definitely be there tomorrow if I could find it available anywhere...lol..

I sure hope the rest of the country can get it next year.

Looks like it will be awhile for the rest of us.

I got this one while not in bloom in February. I was overeager to get a Black and Blue and so I bought it. Now I can see that I do not have Black and Blue. What do you think I have?

Thanks so much,
Carol

My bet is S. guaranitica 'Purple Magesty'.

My thought was 'Purple Majesty', too. I was wondering what everyone else thought. There was a whole table full of them and none had a label/marker. The nursery employee thought it was 'Black and Blue'. I was eager to get my hands on one, so I bought it. Then it bloomed. Oops! :)

Carol

The only other possibilities are Betsy's Choice and Jean's Purple Passion. Neither of these are widely distributed, and the first is fairly easy to distinguish when in bloom.

I live in the San Joaquin Valley, California and just picked up a Amistad Salvia at my local Orchard Hardware. Its a beauty!

I got one of these at OSH about a month ago. The flowers are beautiful. The label says that it's a more compact/fuller guaranitica type. The label also has PPAF after the name.

WOW! I do LOVE this Salvia! It is fairly dense with lots of blooms all the time... despite our recent high temps. I moved it today (in it's pot) to a prominent spot in the back yard where I can see it all the time.

I have a hummingbird! Amistad lured it in. Hurrah!

I have a hummingbird! Amistad lured it in. Hurrah!

I saw 'Amistad' in some mass-circulation catalogue in the UK this spring but it doesn't seem to be in nurseries yet. Mine (from Robin) came through the winter perfectly without protection, but has been completely devoured by slugs in the hideous wet summer we have had!! (Along with several other salvias). The only one I have they really don't seem to like, for some reason, is S involucrata, but some other pest is making hundreds of tiny holes in the leaves instead...also on my lepechinias, but never see the damn thing, whatever it is!!

Drusilla, it is almost certainly capsid bugs. A nightmare this year, first in late spring, and now in September! Many people experiencing this on Salvias, particularly involucrata, Indigo Spires, and some microphyllas. Despite the wet summer, spidermite has also been dreadful.

Found this plant at Lowes today and I now see what the fuss is all about. It's beautiful!

I thought I had lost this one due to our low temps and that the plant was in a large pot. But, I just discovered new growth near the bottom. This is one of my favorites, so I'm glad it's survived.

This is an awesome salvia. I hope our garden center can get it in or it is available from Richard or other salvia vendors.

Indeed this is awesome.......perhaps not as hardy as originally thought. It should be available soon, subject to micro-propagation. Protected by PBR, so delays are possible. Just be patient....patience will certainly be worth-while!

I really want Amistad, but I certainly don't anticipate it being available around here this year. I hope it doesn't go beyond next year.

If anyone is still looking for this gorgeous salvia FBTS has it and many other beauties!!

Rose

Thanks, Rose, I saw the nursery owner's post this morning on another forum & have just pre-ordered. Everybody, these may sell out quickly.

Nursery expects to receive plants and start shipping by Monday, April 8. Only $8/plant but they use fedex and min is $15.95 for me from Calif. So I ordered 2 Amistad. You can pre-order on webpage below.

Rolando and Robin, many thanks, and could you verify care instructions on webpage. I know it's new to our country and it may be hard to say what conditions it will survive.

If hardy to zone 8, do you think our colder friends could overwinter in unheated garage? In what size container? I have read that it gets large so is it better for our colder friends to grow in ground and only put new cutting in a container to overwinter? I think that's allowed under a plant patent.

If hardy to zone 8, do you think it might survive my very wet winters? Some plants don't like cold and wet together. âÂÂFull sunâ often translates to half sun/half shade for Louisiana. Does it need about the same light as a Coral Nymph? So excited. Thanks again, Rolando & Robin!

Pre-order Amistad at Flowers by the Sea in Calif

This post was edited by river_crossroads on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 14:31

I can only speak from a British climate, where in my garden, the winter minimum might be -8C or 19F, but this is unusual. Good drainage is essential to prevent root rot. A good winter mulch is very helpful. Here, new sprouts should appear mid-April to mid-May..........when they should grow and flower within a few weeks. If nothing by then, you may have lost the plant.

Rolando has a more congenial climate for this.

Robin.

River, I just bought another large Amestad last week at OSH. I have a feeling this one wont be that hard to find.

Thanks, Robin, my winters are much like yours so I am hopeful. Thanks, westelle, I was jealous last summer of Californians who could buy Amistad at Lowe's.

Amistad has done well in LSU trial garden, Hammond, LA, see 3rd paragraph on left on Amistad & be sure to click on pic to enlarge.

LSU Ag Center Newsletter, Oct 2012

This post was edited by river_crossroads on Sat, Mar 23, 13 at 3:29

I got my pre-order in, I am looking forward to growing this nice one.

It appears I too will get stung for jumping on the early wagon of amistad and ordering from myseasons nursery without first checking their track record which is disgusting. If that be the case I will post a negative and never order from them again, lesson learned.

I look forward this year to Amistad hardiness reports from a wider range of locations. Our winter here was mostly mild, but we did have a couple of nights in the mid 20s and 3 inches of hail one night in less than an hour. Our Amistad plants in the ground never stopped blooming, although they did get pretty ragged. They are growing now, with new flowers starting.

I'm impressed with their toughness.

S. Amistad is in the Souther Living Plant Collection now. I dont know if thats only availble in the south but its in most nurseries now in Ga. They have it hardy zone 9-11, hardy to 23 degrees. It sure is purty

This one is branded by Sunset at HD.

Haha, too funny. Racks and racks of the one I photographed above ('Purple Majesty') recently landed at Lowes marked as 'Black & Blue'. Oh, the irony is too rich.

Carol

What lovely rich color in these flowers! I am going crazy! Hahahaha

Came home from Home Depot with one of these beauties 2 weeks ago. The hummingbirds love it, but so do the caterpillars. After only a week, I started finding small holes in the leaves. Went out this early morning to find the fat green culprit munching away. I checked among the leaves and found a little spider had happily made it's web low in the main stalks and a moth taking a rest. Looks like this salvia's a keeper for attracting the wildlife!

My plant seems to have survived all the rain we received from what was left of Tropical Storm Andrea.

Here is a new photo of my 'amistad' in a 16 inch pot. It is 3 feet tall and 5+ feet wide. I did not expect it to grow so big so quickly. With two more months of fast growth it is likely to become a monster.

This post was edited by hawkeye_wx on Fri, Jul 19, 13 at 14:40

Looking good hawkeye. Here is my contribution for today.

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing. Hawkeye, that is the largest Amistad that I have seen. My picture shows Amistad growing in a pot placed on a chair to compare with Purple Majesty, which is quite tall and planted in the ground. Amistad is a slightly warmer color compared to the cool purple of Purple Majesty, at least at my place but naturally YMMV. Both wonderful shades of purple.

Purple Majesty on left, branch of Amistad with dark calyx is on right, May 23, 2013.

several pics of my salvia guaranitica - click Next

My potted 'amistad' is now 4 ft tall and nearly 7 ft wide, with one more month of growth to go.

This post was edited by hawkeye_wx on Thu, Aug 22, 13 at 16:20

I pre-ordered an Amistad from FBTS back in March, and it's a little slow growing in the punishing heat of an L.A. summer. It took a month off of blooming, but it's started up again. I'm hoping it'll come into its own next Spring.