I've grown this for about 3 years now. The first couple of years they didn't do much, but this year they bloom well. It is, however, smaller and lower growing than the other salvia greggis, which means they are best grown at the edge of the border.

It is definitely not Salvia chionophylla, which acts more like a ground cover, with roundish gray foliage and light blue-lavender flowers from tufts.

Thanks, Dho and Rich! I'll just treat it like a small greggii, and see what happens. :)

Brenda

I'm so excited, I just had to post! My first bloom from this little gem has arrived, and it's so beautiful; small but beautiful! It's a rich, dark, velvety purple with a bit of white down its "throat".

As soon as my husband returns with the camera on his weekend trip, I will attempt a photograph of the bloom to share with you. :)

Brenda

It has 3 blooms now, and as per usual, the photos just don't do them justice. The color variations only show up in the pics, not to the naked eye, so it must be my digital camera self-editing. :)

Brenda

Here is a link that might be useful:

Hello,

Gorgeous pic, if it sets seeds and you would like to trade for other salvia species seed let me know.

Cheers Annette

Brenda: where did you buy this gem?

Be aware that Nuevo Leon is probably a cross of a blue sage like lycioides or muelleri with greggii. I was lucky a long time ago to go with the folks from Yucca-Do to Coahuila (Jame and neighboring areas in the Eleven Sisters mountain ranges above Saltillo and Monterrey). There, these sages exist in hybrid swarms at most elevations and exposures. Plants often do not come true to seed.

If you cross plants from two pure strains collected in the wild from separate locations, you are most likely to get homogeneous F1 hybrids. The successive hybrids, F2, F3, etc., will show a range from one original parent to the other, as is in the hybrid swarms I've seen. I would not be surprised if even self-pollinated Salvia Nuevo Leon seed gave rise to a different plant.

Annette, this is my first year collecting Salvia seeds, but if I'm able, I'll share some with you. If you're willing to chance the variability, as well. Thanks for that very interesting info, Rich!

Westelle, I got it from Three Palms nursery, a locally-owned place in Davis. The owner, Phil Kitchen, always has a nice selection of Salvias there, and usually at least one that I've never tried (or even heard of). He finally has a website now, but he only updates the online plant inventory once every season. We're going back to see him on Oct. 7th if you'd like me to pick up one of these for you. :)

Brenda

Here is a link that might be useful: Three Palms

Thanks for the link Brenda. DH and I will be traveling that way in Oct. too and I can check out this new-to-me nursery then, but thanks for the offer.

Thanks,

If it sets seed it sounds even more interesting what it will produce,I am up for the challenge, if and when it sets seed let me know, I have an interesting lot off salvia seed so if you are chasing anything let me know.

Cheers Annette

I just bought this plant, and the plant tag says " Salvia greggi X lycioides", so I think that's your answer. :-)

With all due respect, you are awfully believing of plant tags.

I have an old coffee can full of ones that were inaccurate in one way or another. I wish our industry was smart and honest enough that all plant tags could be believed, but that is far, far from being the case.

I have see this plant with at least three different "parentages". A mystery.

Pat McNeal of McNeal growers might have the answer. He has collected the true S. lycioides in the Guadeloupe Mountains located at the southern border of New Mexico with Texas. I was told it occurs in Mexico at somewhat higher elevations than S. greggii, and these hybrids form where the two overlap.

The greggii x lycioides hybrids San Isidro (lavender) and Los Lirios (purple) were collected by Carl Schoenfeld and John Fairey of Yucca-Do, or at least initially distributed them through their early mail order business.

Los Lirios was distributed as S. greggii Navajo Dark Purple.

Salvia lycioides x greggii `Purple Pastel' is similar to San Isidro, and probably is a Pat McNeal introduction.

The plants distributed as S. muelleri and S, coahuilensis are probably hybrids with S. greggii, since the true species are some intensity of pure blue. I got mine from Manuel Flores quite a while ago. Botanists from the University of Nuevo Leon in Monterrey are supposed to know of true locations for these true blue forms.