My best guess would be to contact Bart O'Brien at Ranch Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, or get someone at the local garden to contact him for you.

Westelle, I wonder if it was Salvia 'Celestial Blue'?

From Robin's site: "Yet another beautiful Californian hybrid, I am told that this is S. clevelandii x S. pachyphylla..."

Thanks, dicot. The calyxes were a darker maroon, I think, but it may indeed be 'Celestial Blue'.
l'll go back to the garden tomorrow -- with my camera.

My own question about S. clevelandii has to do with the floppy growth I'm experiencing. Maybe Rich can answer. I have 21 plants in (now) #1 pots, grown from cuttings from wild plants. Five weeks ago they were tiny, the biggest maybe 6 inches tall, most with a single stem. Now they are multi-branched, gangly, floppy things, doing everything but growing upright. Several appear to be on their way to flowering, since they have buds, but they're taking their time about it. They are growing in full sun. Will they straighten up as the stems develop wood? Should I cut them back this summer, to encourage the development of one stem?

Is this "Celestial Blue"?

Here is a link that might be useful:

I think so. The other possibility is Salvia pachyphylla 'Blue Flame' (pic below), but I think it looks more like the S. clevelandii x pachyphylla cultivar.

{{gwi:1244431}}

This plant most definitely smells like S. clevelandii.... no doubt about that! The color of the calyxes in your picture is more the color of the calyxes on the plant I'm trying to name, but the shape of them is more consistent with S.c.

I'm always hopeful that one day there will be a comprehensive list (with photos) of salvia cultivars, but I guess we don't even have that for the traditional species. I'm always interested when I look at Cabrillo college's list about some odd plant or two. Like their listing for Salvia 'Trident' (clevelandii x dorii. x mohavensis). Sounds interesting - love to see a photo.

But the salvias are better than most to get info about - there's hundreds of penstemon and lupine CA native species that are just scientific notations and impossible to buy or even find out about, other than a brief mention on CNPLX or CalFlora.

The end result of this is I really like the S. 'Celestial Blue' and now need to get one. Isn't that always the way?

If I can ever find the time and locate all the resources, I'd like to take a crack at compiling such a list. I'm sure that this is in the back of Robin and Betsy's minds as well. It will necessarily be a group effort.

God help anyone who wants to do this with all of the Salvia splendens varieties. You might want to start out with the 2007 Salvia Collection at Rotary Botanical Gardens

Here is a link that might be useful: Rotary Botanic Garden Salvia collection

Curtis,
I would cut back your Salvia clevelandii to encourage branching. I cut my plants back in late summer after blooming to keep them in check. I also occasionally cut some back in spring or early summer if they become broken or damaged, and they respond with new branches and sometimes flowers that end up blooming later than the usual bloom time.

Rich, this is typical of my S. cleve. cuttings. These branches are floppy in a way that I don't see in wild plants of similar size.