I would think hummers would love it... They like all my salvias with the exception of the 'greggii' style ones, which they seem to ignore.

heathen1
That is interesting that they ignore your greggiis. Mine were used as soon as the first 2 or 3 blooms opened up right up until my hummers left along with all my other salvias.

Penny

Salvia pratensis `Eveline' is a meadow sage. Pinks off of the normal blue form are relatively common. A plantation of only selected pink forms will generate a variety of plants in stature and flower size. I imagine `Eveline' is a nice selection propagated by tissue culture, since yield from divisions and cuttings would be low.

S. greggii flowers might not attract hummers because under certain growing conditions, nectar flow will be too low for them to bother with. With stress conditions that promise low seed set, nectar will probably also suffer.

That's probably the problem... I think I planted it too close to another plant that needs too much water for the greggii, so even though it blooms profusely... it may not be all that happy... I've wondered.

The hummers seem to like the greggii here. I water once a week -- with some supplemental during the high, high heat of mid summer. But their favorite is still S. involucrata 'Mulberry Jam'.

PS the wild canaries like the seeds of the clevelandii, so I always leave those on until they've gone thru'.

You have wild canaries??? How lucky are you? Wow! Now... I wish they'd migrate up to Sacramento a bit. Currently, the hummer fave is an Indigo spires which I recently acquired. Unfortunately, a Cypress Vine really has their attention.... but they love all my salvias mostly... I think that greggii just isn't their favorite....
I think it's an Allan's or maybe an Anna's, I get them confused, bigger than the usual Rufus, who has just started coming by, he prefers the van houttei and the chiapensis that are just under the feeder. :D

Found this thread by google search on 'Eveline'. I have many, many hummers in my garden coming to lots of plants, and they seem to ignore this one. HOWEVER, this is a fabulous new plant which has been a premier performer for me since I planted it out from plugs last spring. It is a very continuous, upright bloomer, sheds its old flowers nicely and even if you don't deadhead much (I never have time...) just keeps on blooming. It is also much easier to deadhead (when you do have time) because the flower stalks stand way up above the foliage and are easily pulled off on the evening garden stroll.

Hummers or not, what a great new garden plant!

The only European Sage that ever attracted hummingbirds in my garden was Transylvanica. Eveline does look good in photos and it has been tempting, but with so many hummingbird attracting salvias to try I've passed it up.

Richard's comment about stressed greggii is an interesting insight. I'd been wondering why the greggiis and microphyllas I planted beyond irrigation haven't been attracting many hummingbirds despite blooming fairly well all through the drought. The same cultivars under regular irrigation at home have been in constant use all summer and fall. Is it just me who goes crazy with trying to keep these sages deadheaded? Established plants can have hundreds of spent spikes and the plants do look better if they are tended to.

Has anyone collected seed of Eveline, it looks quite pretty and I would like to try.........

Salvia Lemmonii, is found in the Chiricahua Mountains where I live. So the 3 favorite of hummers in the garden are S. greggii, S. darcyi, and S. elegans. I just don't have good luck with S. lemmonii.

desertsage, do you ever get visits from Sally and Tim Walker (Southwestern Native Seeds)? I got my first S. lemmonii from them, and it hybridized with some Texas S. greggiis to give Raspberry Royale and Plum Wine, which are still good hummer plants.

Also Agastache barberi should grow there (now more correctly known as A. pallida var. pallida), and this is also a good hummer plant.