Hi & thanks for the welcome and info.
I ordered the S.oxy yesterday from Georgia Vines, and they shipped today! =O
Great service, so far. I hope the plant will be as good as their service. Worth a try anyway, and they (Lori) contacted me same day to
make sure I was happy. Gotta say I'm impressed so far.
I guess I assumed the plant from FBTS was a 1 gal since they were charging 2X more for shipping than the plant.
I haven't bought from them yet, and am sure they are very good, but $21.50 for shipping is excessive, imho.
The description of the plant's natural habitat, it's growth habit, and requirements at the HerbCottage dot com in "Oz" (
) is very well written and it sounds challenging, but not impossible for me.
In fact, I'm almost giddy imagining it growing where I already have a very pretty cobalt blue (volunteer-from-who-knows-where!)
salvia that is spreading in the natural soil which is dry and in the shade (but I'm giving it extra water especially in the heatwave)
The foliage on the blue also large spade shaped, and the plant is easy to propagate just by digging a little at the margins, and lifting out a section with roots, watering it in, and mulching. I'm amazed it has not only survived, but thrives in the relatively dry conditions.
In fact, the blue salvia is what started my renewed interest in salvias. It prompted me to get some seeds from Mia at SmartSeeds, as well as
several types of milkweeds for our monarchs. That's a whole 'nother story! =O
Recently, I've started propagating the blue to new areas in the last month (even with all the recent 90F+ heat here in Escondido, and virtually all
are doing well and putting out new growth and even flower spikes. So I'm hopeful the S.oxyphora will feel at home, too.
That will be spectacular if it mixes in with the blue one.
Just want to say I'm very happy to have found such a great community here of enthusiastic, helpful & easy to know fellow gardeners.
Lots to learn & share. I feel at home already.
Here's the volunteer blue that I transplanted into my main garden:
And just took these a few minutes ago. Call me crazy, but I'm going to plant the new S.oxyphora with this one, mulch it, water it, and
try not to check on it every 1/2hr!
Transplants ~1mo old
Main colony
Closeup.....even deeper blue than it looks in the pic
I'll let you know when the Fuzzy Bolivian Sage comes in, and how it goes.
One great thing about salvia is it appears the rabbits and snails leave it alone.
But I may put a little chicken wire around it just in case, at least until it gets a foothold.
