The subrotunda seeds all over, so I had a lot to work with and planted some in the sun....they died, the ones in shade are very happy.
Edited to add:
Don't feel bad if yours dies, I will have seeds to send to you.....

Thanks Sherry Hmm..so I guess I have to adjust the containers location during seasons..it had no issues being in full sun during winter...but really sulks now when in full sun as the hotter weather ensues..will observe a little more how the little one goes!

My subrotunda bit the dust ..but the Salvia iodantha is faring much better.. Win and lose for me...but I have not removed the subrotunda yet from its container...hoping, maybe it is just sleeping

Oh well...life too short to mope around!

Well, if you would like seeds of s. subrotunda, t-mail your mailing address to me and I will send seeds...then you'll have LOTS of subrotundas...lol..
Sherry

Hi, y'all! I;m beginning to wonder if maybe I'm in the wrong thread. . . . salvias, yes. . . . me? a collector? definitely NOT!!

What I am is thinking maybe a salvia is the kind of plant I'm wanting to plant come planting time, to solve a problem in my garden. I need a guardian plant: salvia seems to fit my requirements: perennial for my zone, evergreen, fast-growing, easy care, full sun for about 8 hours then light shade from the heat of the day on. It would be in its own raised bed (landscapers goofed: they dumped a 3" layer of compost on top of the compacted, red clay soil instead of tilling it in!) approximately 5-6' long and 4' wide. It should be at least 2 1/2 foot tall but no more than 4-5 foot tall. While I can water it for its first year of establishment, it should get it's water needs from the rainfall. (I'm disabled, hence the limited width of the bed.)

Salvias having pretty blooms is a plus!!

See, last winter I moved to the county and the winter winds utterly devastated my hellebores which I brought with me from my old place in town, 3 miles away. I lost one plant and the rest looked burnt and dried out; I moved 2 to a more protected alcove but that left one in a semi-protected spot: it needs a guardian plant to shelter it from the winds! (My hellebores are all about 18" tall.)

Can y'all offer advice? variety? where to order/buy plants (locally, only bare-root salvias are available: I will have to use mail order).

Okay.....in checking this for you I see the sad news that Richard Dufresne, of 'World of Salvias'
in N.C., has passed away...it does look as though his business is still up and running....
http://worldofsalvias.com/

Also there is FBTS, Flowers By The Sea, whose mail order comes from out here in California..Kermit is also one of our members, totally knowledgable and has a big selection.....

Link for Flowers By The Sea......
https://www.fbts.com/

BetNC said:What I am is thinking maybe a salvia is the kind of plant I'm wanting to plant come planting time, to solve a problem in my garden. I need a guardian plant: salvia seems to fit my requirements: perennial for my zone, evergreen, fast-growing, easy care, full sun for about 8 hours then light shade from the heat of the day on. It would be in its own raised bed (landscapers goofed: they dumped a 3" layer of compost on top of the compacted, red clay soil instead of tilling it in!) approximately 5-6' long and 4' wide. It should be at least 2 1/2 foot tall but no more than 4-5 foot tall. While I can water it for its first year of establishment, it should get it's water needs from the rainfall. (I'm disabled, hence the limited width of the bed.)

Can y'all offer advice? variety? where to order/buy plants (locally, only bare-root salvias are available: I will have to use mail order).

@BetNC,

My first thought was a drought tolerant salvia. A Salvia farinacea plant. A lot of the other S. farinacea varieties are shorter than 2 and a half feet tall, but these two are at least 2 and a half feet tall.

Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea 'Henry Duelberg') Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea 'Henry Duelberg')
White Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea 'Augusta Duelberg') White Mealy Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea 'Augusta Duelberg')

Both of these can be bought at https://www.almostedenplants.c...

https://www.almostedenplants.c...

Salvia Big Blue is a new one this year. It's a hybrid and is drought tolerant. The parentage is Salvia longispicata x Salvia farinacea. Salvia Big Blue

You can get it at...

https://www.fbts.com/salvia-x-... I'm getting one in my spring order at Flowers By The Sea and am looking forward to growing it.

BetNC, I'm hoping I picked 3 correct salvias according to your needs. That's all I can think of at the moment.

Thank you Sherry for posting the link to Flowers By The Sea above. It's one of my favorite places to order my salvias from. I'm like "a kid in a candy store" trying to decide what to get each year from FBTS. So many beautiful goodies.

Thank all three of you for your advice and help with suggestions and links. It's near midnight here, so I will have to wait to check them out. (Gee, whoever thought up bookmarks was EVER so helpful!

@BetNC

Welcome to the Agastache and Salvias forum.

morning, y'all!

I've had the fun of checking out the 3 salvia varieties recommended recently . . over coffee! mmmmm beautiful plants AND coffee!!!

Henry & Augustus Duelberg Salvias: oh, I LIKE!! I'm a Texas Aggie, so I was entranced. Other pluses: native, Texas Superstar, extremely hardy. . .and the blue blooms of Henry reminds me of the beloved bluebonnets of home! One big minus: they're both herbaceous perennials (not evergreens) in my hardiness zone (7a). Augusta doesn't really speak to me, but Henry is yelling!! Although neither is suitable for my problem area, I'm trying to think of where I might be able to plant/have Henry in my garden.

Questions: since salvias are of the mint family which is known for rapacious spreading, can Henry share a raised bed without trying to take over? Or do I need to create/build a partition?? I have another sun raised bed about 50' long and 3-4' wide that's still empty (remember I just moved out here....populating my garden takes some time!) hhmmmm......maybe (since I'm so entranced by this plant) I just might fill the whole 50' with Henry!! or mix and match with other salvias: a whole bed of easy-care plants with beautiful blooms!!

Big Blue salvia ( description from supplied vendor site) is also an annual in my zone, PLUS it requires rich soil and adequate water. So it's a big NO THANKS.

I still need an evergreen guardian plant for this year.

BetNC.....I don't know if you've checked out FBTS, but his site also lists salvias 'by zone', that may be of help to you ....

Sherry,

Thank you for mentioning that.

@FBTS Kermit,

Could you chime in and offer some salvias that BetNC could plant please?

Thanks, Sherry. I promptly went back to FBTS and spent several hours using their plant finder by zone. . for various heights. Oh, so pretty! But regardless of height, all the salvias were herbaceous perennials, unfortunately. I DID find three especially appealing, so bookmarked them under Plant Ideas as future possibilities.

It doesn't seem that the problem area in my garden will be solved by a salvia. . . . but there seems to be salvias in my future for that other raised bed!!

I am a huge fan of salvias. They bloom profusely providing nectar for bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies from spring until frost. Additionally they don't demand a lot of attention. I know from reading books by Betsy Clebsch that there are a lot of species that do well in California, but many of those can't withstand our brutal Texas summers.

Here is a list of some growing in my gardens in south central Texas that can take the heat:

Mexican Bush Sage (s. leucantha)
Big Red (s. penstemmonoides)
Blue Chiquita
Eyelash sage (s. blepharophylia)
Bog Sage (s. uliginosa)
Salvia greggii (Hot Lips, Shell Dancer, Teresa, Mesa and many unnamed hybrids)
S. Karwinski
Salvia Oresbia
Lyre Leaf (s. lyrata)
Mountain Sage (s. Regla) forms small tree
La Trinidad (s. microphylla)
Wendy's Wish and Silkie's Dream
Salvia Coccinea (Lady in Red, Coral Nymph, and a white one whose name I can't remember)
Henry and Agusta Duelburg (s. farinacea) along with Mealy Blue and Majestic Spires
Oaxaca Sage and Mejorana (both form large shrubs)
Black and Blue (s. guarantica)
Cedar Sage (s. roemeriana)
Forsythia Sage (s. madrensis)
Nuevo Leon
Dulches numbres

Some of the above do self-seed and others spread by underground runners, but I've never found any of them to be 'invasive'. In my opinion, there's no such thing as too many salvias.

In addition to Henry and Augusta Duelberg, I found 3 other salvias @ FBTS that intrigue me:

Furman's Red (S. greggii) true red 30" TX native
Wild Thing (S. greggii) coral pink 36" W. TX native
Cherry Chief (S. greggi) cherry red 36" NC bred


I'm envisioning that 50' bed:
all in Henry Duelberg
a mix of red, white and blue salvias (Mr $ Mrs Duelberg plus Furman's Red)

But then what about the other two...not to mention the others I'll find at other sites (and a big Texas thanky ma'am to @GrammaChar for giving me a list to go browse!!)

You're welcome. I just purchased two Cherry Chiefs but don't have enough history with them to post any results. Hopefully we'll both have good luck.

When the Duelburg salvias were discovered growing on the graves of Henry and Augusta, one of the marketing slogans used was, "If the dead can grow them, so can you". I like them growing together, and your bed will be beautiful with the combination you mentioned.

Sounds like a beautiful and patriotic flowerbed BetNC.

GrammaChar, beautiful pics.