I was looking at plants on e-bay and saw a salvia, I had never heard of: BUCHANAN'S SAGE...it is a very interesting plant. I took some pictures and I will post them later.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/66370/
Got the Neatest Plant today!
It's very pretty--one of my favorite salvias, I love the bright pink flowers. I think you'll have to bring it in for the winter though if you want to keep it from year to year, I'm pretty sure it's not very hardy.
I have this one on my want list for salvia's - which I'm slowly whittling down. Just because it's not SUPPOSED to grow well here, doesn't mean I won't give it a go. I've gotten several to grow and bloom which weren't supposed to here.
I think for some tho, it may be a short lived thrill. Unless I can get the greenhouse of my dreams...
It'll survive your winters--it does fine here and we get more cold nights than you do in FL. I'm not sure about its humidity tolerance, but if you can get it through your summer you won't have to worry about finding a greenhouse for it.
humidity seems to be the biggest factor over heat. So with those I'm careful to place in area's where airflow is not blocked and "drainage, drainage, drainage..........and .I've threatened to get one of those big out door fans..............haha, now that would be a site in the middle of the oak hammock !
As well as the many cuttings/seedlings of Salvias that I plant in the garden each year, I like to have some in large pots that I can judiciously place in the borders to fill in the gaps or hide the untidy arising as a consequence of plants that have 'done their bit' and no longer look their best.
These pot plants also double up as stock plants which I can overwinter. All the patens tribe fit this category and, amongst others, so also does buchananii.
The pic is of a single cutting that I potted up each year as it grew and it's now in a 14" pot after about 4 years. Although buchananii planted out in the borders sometimes survives the winter, this tends to be a rarity and I overwinter the pot plant in a frost free garage with limited sunlight. I cut back all the stems in spring and feed to promote new growth.
Jim
Here is how it looked four weeks earlier
Jim
Wow, that is so pretty...
I was just looking thru Betsy Clebsch's New Book of Salvia's and she say's that
buchananii are good for hot humid climates.
So, I need to get it !
is that the same as eyelash salvia? I have one that has foilage like that but the blooms are like vevet
Salvia blepharophylla is eyelash sage. It has scarlet flowers with aspect ratios and shape of Salvia greggii-microphylla-coccinea (short tube, large lower lip relevant to the upper hood that bears the stigma and anthers). Salvia buchananii is similar in shape to the cardinalis form of fulgens, which is scarlet. Wendy's Wish is obviously derived from buchananii.
The flower shape is determined by the relationship to its favored pollinator.
Blepharophylla also has glossy leaves, but they are much larger than buchananii. The latter is relatively unique amongst tropical sages with flowers that are as large or larger than individual leaves. Both species are good at forming dense clumps, branching freely underground or having short stolons.
As a result, they make great container plants. Chiapensis, sinaloensis, and glechomifolia also work well this way.
Jimcrick: Which one of the patens is your container pot? I just ordered some patens seed from T&M. I'm growing to love salvias very quickly!
These are all lovely.
Angie
Angie
In early summer I plant many cuttings of patens in my borders. Many of these survive the winter (and seemed to do better this last winter which was much more harsh/wet. It is interesting to note that Christian Froissard states, in his excellent book, that patens survives winter cold better in a moist soil rather than a dry one!).
However, in case I have a disaster and lose all my stock, I also have one of each of my varieties of patens in large pots to overwinter in a frost free environment. Some of these have been in the same pot for many years and are, understandably, quite large plants.
As winter approaches, I try not to let the pots get too wet from excess rain and then cut off all the foliage, give them a sprinkling of fungicide powder, stick them in the garage and forget about them until signs of shooting the next year. Guanajuato is always the last to sprout and I usually give it a bit more light and a little water to induce sprouting.
The varieties I have, other than the basic species, are Cambridge Blue, Chilcombe, White Trophy, Dot's Delight, Pink Ice, Guanajuato and Large Form. The glorious Salvia vitifolia which is a bit like like a giant patens, I also keep in the same way.
Jim
I have no luck here with patens at all....I'm thinking it perhaps likes the climate in the UK more than mine.
Thank you, Jim. I'll have to look at my seeds and see if I can distinguish which variety I have of the patens. Sounds like you have a good system for ensuring that yours survive, too.
Angie
I have this little salvia with a yellow bloom and lost its' tag.. it has really skinny bushy type leaves.. any ideas? I will see if I can find a picture or take one.. and what does the word paten have to do with sages or salvias? just curious?
Debra
Sorry.....salvia patens, a species of salvia which does not seem to like my hotter, drier conditions.
See what you started...I just ordered two today.