Do you have open gardens or are you strictly a mail order nursery? I am only about 2 hrs drive away and promised my Mom a trip up to Mendocino soon, she has never been to the botanical gardens up there.

lol...I was waiting for you to ask that, Sue.....figured you'd be on the road already.

You gotta love s.sagittata...it just keeps on goin'....



S. curviflora today.....

I saw that S. sagittata on Annie's and added it to my wish list, love that intense blue color!

Do you want seeds?

Are they easy? I always have good intentions, as shown by my box of seeds, maybe with more room I will actually make the effort to plant some of my packs finally!

They germinate readily enough, but tend to die off...don't believe it's damping off....just may need a different mix than my usual peat/ perlite....or be kept drier. My flats are under shade cloth and most things like that, but the sagittata may like to be not rained on....I haven't been bothering to greenhouse anything. I'm sending some seeds to crittergarden, then the next I save I'll send to you......you don't have anything to lose....

Salvia sagitata is a fragile plant in seedling stage or as a small rooted cutting. We give them bottom heat in a close and humid atmosphere with good air movement until they are well rooted in the 3 1/2 inch deep perennial pots we use. We don't like to send off a plant until we have pinched it once and it has branched. Very young plants are less likely to succeed. One of the more difficult Salvias from seed, requiring good conditions and careful attention.

We are strictly mail order, but do attend the Ukiah and Mendocino Farmers' Markets regularly during the Summer. On occasion my wife hosts a visitor, but that's in the Summer when things slow down, not in the early part of the year when we are scrambling. So it could be possible Julyish.

It was in the high 60s / low 70s here today, with no wind. The first flowers I have seen on the Salvia gesneriifolia 'Tequila' today.

Yep, my Tequila is flowering now also. The one that climbs the pine tree has been flowering for awhile. It's been in the ground for several years, the one just planted several months ago has just started.

That's how I start each morning...go out, take a look around, see what's flowering.

Thanks for the info on sagittata, now I know it's not just me.

Yes thank you! Better save those seeds then Sherry, I am not patient enough for coddling and difficult seedlings. If I get one, it will have to be further along.

I'm not much for coddling lately either...that's why I had trouble with the sagittata seeds, I guess. Everything here now is getting tough love...lol.

I'm terribly worried that the La Nina forecast is finally looking to be true. After our early rains I had hope, but.....

Looks like water restrictions will be in this year. Mammoth Mountain had what, 20 feet of snow last year? Now they're having to hunt for enough to measure. I've had 3" of rain so far. Not looking good!

And a week ago they were talking on the news about our 2" surplus...surplus? I'm looking at a large swath of ground that I'm going to 'un-plant'...and my stuff is almost all drought tolerant...still adds up.

At the same time, I've just been sitting here looking through 'Subtropical and Dry Climate Plants' and seeing so very many plants that I don't have and that I covet...trying to figure out how to acquire them all, where to plant them all and how to afford to water them all. Common sense doesn't help...I still want them.

Salvia curviflora taken this a.m......

Salvia karwinskii this a.m.....

Loving all these Salvias! Mine all have to be pot size. I'll bet the hummers love your garden.

A lot of my stuff is going to large pots.....$300 a month water bills don't cut it anymore....plus, it's just gotten to be too much to take care of. I have a large shade structure and a tiny greenhouse. I'm thinking I'd like to enclose the shade structure, lay down concrete paths between my long tables and be able to sit and roll my chair along...lol..seriously.

Besides, just look at all of the stuff that is perfectly suited to pot culture.......you can grow zillions of things....

Ha! I hear that! I started cleaning out one small bed yesterday, and half way through I was thinking about one of those little sit on thingies with the wheels. Probably wouldn't work too well on the flagstone path though.

I do sitting down really well. I was going to get something that would work for weeding,etc.....then the DH handed me one of his plastic milk cartons...I love it!

Just starting to bloom, the most vigorous clone of Salvia spathacea we have - 'Cerro Alto'. I find it difficult to capture the color, which is a rich, warm apricot that glistens in the sun (which we don't have now as the first real Winter storm of the year is here). We had two nights below 25 degrees F last week, and these said, "No problem".

Enjoy.

Salvia spathacea 'Cerro Alto'


Kermit

Lots of envy here. I don't have that one..... I'm having the same problem trying to capture the intense salmon pink of my s. karwinskii.