Have to throw in here briefly just how amazed I am with some of my salvias.
We moved two years ago from sub-tropical Sunset Zone 23 in SoCal where we never had frost...okay, maybe once in 30-some years...and I grew a LOT of salvias.
When we moved here I did not expect the salvias to do well. We're now in far Northwestern California (sort of banana-belt for this far north, 3 blocks from the ocean), recently down to 28 degrees at night and 30-60 inches of rain (luckily only 30-some inches the last two years...LOL...). I really did not expect to grow salvias here at all. You know, I was thinking maple trees and hollies, etc...PNW stuff....and I find that a lot of plants I grew in SoCal do well here also. Last Winter here was mild, this Winter we've been down to 28 degrees in the last few weeks and it's a real learning experience for me to go wandering out there and see what been toasted and what's still looking good. Microphyllas and greggiis (Navaho Red, Christrine Yeo, in ground) look unfazed (in pots, out in the open). S. rhinosina, s. azurea, s. atrocyanea are down and out, expect the azurea will return, doubt on the rhinosina and atrocyanea, but we will see come Spring.
Bottom line is that I will now be growing a lot more salvias here.
Quite a few surprises as far as Aussies go, also....
