Sincere wishes for a happy New Year to all Salvia lovers,
Greetings from freezing London, UK,
Robin.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year Robin!!!
Bless your heart :)
I haven't been on DG in awhile...been laid up with a broken leg from falling on ice in our driveway last month. I'm counting my blessings it wasn't my head or back that got injured, but it's still depressing not being able to do much of anything on crutches...and for the next 10 weeks.
I'm also grateful on the timing. I should still be able to garden by April...whew! That is at least keeping my spirits up...
HAPPY NEW YEAR. HOPE IT'S A WONDERFUL ONE. Susan, sorry to hear about your broken leg. Hope you are all better by planting time.
Elaine
Hello, Robin! Happy New Year from 80 degree SoCal where, at last, we've finally been getting some rain and many of my salvias are still blooming...the hummers are quite appreciative.
Aloha from the Big Island of Hawaii. All the Salvias I brought in from cuttings and seed ( Thanx Robin and Sherry!!) are thriving in this climate! Happy New Year everyone.
Hi Andy! Been wondering how you're doing...Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from Soggy Central Florida, been pouring buckets here since around 1:00 am, and then supposed to dip to upper 30's tonight, and lower 30's the next few nights....errrr, most of the Salvia's are in fairly protected area's so hopefully won't get too much damage. Cuttings and seeds on hand just in case tho...
Happy New Year from Texas. I have spent a lot of time the past week working in the garden removing some freeze damage from early Dec. The weather right now is clear and cool.Lows in the 40's, highs in the 50's. Perfect for mulching my beds. Funny how I spend more time outside in Dec and January, than in July and August. The 100+ temps keeps everyone inside during the summer.Now if we could have Texas winters and Robin's summers in England, what heaven! nancy
brrrrr, better low 30's than low 20's... sighhhh,, did I say "I hate cold weather"? Well it will kill a lot of bugs and some flowers do need it.. my Irises should be beautiful this spring.
Happy New Year to al l Salvianuts.
Forecast for January here in the UK is more of the same - frost, cold winds, sleet, snow!! Roll on February.
Hey, Joseph! Haven't heard from you in a long time......
Yes....-2C (28F) in London at 2000 hrs, 2nd Jan. No snow forecast, just sunny days with frost at night.
Joseph....is there not something else you could type with...at the risk of being banned from this site!
Interesting thread, started from a New Year greeting.....nice that we have got together again! Does anyone still use the yahoo Salvia Group site....no posts for a month. Seems like a waste of time.
Let us try to keep this site active.
HNY again.....Robin.
Here is my newest Salvia, S. orthostachys, from Colombia and Venezuela. Not a good photo, the flowers are small, but the plant has huge leaves. Upward pointing scarlet flowers, not unlike the S. grewiifolia.
That's pretty,,
I didn't find the yahoo group very interesting, but then I only visited there a couple of times....I find the people on GW knowledgeable and interesting, but prefer the format at DG. I wish everyone would come on over here, but on the other hand,GW is free...I'm happy to subscribe to DG, for the format, it's worth it to me. I've had to be gone off and on for over a month and had to mentally let go of all of the nursery plants, figuring that I would have one heck of a lot of dead plants when I finally was able to get back to them..surprise! We had a couple of small rains, so everything not under cover got watered, tiny seedlings in the greenhouse that had not been watered for over a month were still fine and even cuttings rooting in perlite/water for about two months in storage bins were just fine also..long roots...lol....seems that when we quit babying the plants, they have a knack of doing quite well anyway. Sometimes when things get in the way we can find out just how recklessly they can be treated and just how little care we can get away with. The last time we moved years ago, I'd run out of time (because, of course I was digging so much to take with me...lol..) and instead of digging divisions of s.leucantha, I just soaked them and started pulling them out of the ground, small pieces, large pieces, whatever. They all did just fine. That is one tough plant and worthy of a great deal of my admiration. May the New Year bring new salvias to us all.....
I won't tell you all about our weather here as it will create lots of ill will!! I will say that it has been dry and I've had to water a couple of times. Sherry I had 3 foot tall Salvias in full bloom in less than 60 days from the seed you sent. Can't wait to see some of the new varieties I got from Robin!
Yes, I got some new ones from Robin also...haven't sown yet. You'd best stop bragging about your weather or you'll find us all on your doorstep...we'll all be going to visit 'our friend in Hawaii'. That's what happens when you move there, you know. You can't give anyone your address (or even let them know which island you're on...lol....)
Well we're freezing here in Central Florida, set record lows for this time of year. I covered some of the salvia's in hopes of prolonging the inevitable, hoping to enjoy them for a while longer and to keep some nectar plants around for the few remaining butterflies. I've still got monarchs to release ! Back room is full of rooted cuttings and dying to get some seeds started but thinking I should wait as the house looks like a greenhouse now. I so need to get a greenhouse or actually a hoop house would do fine. I too spent a good bit of time adding mulch to protect roots.
drat it all I moved here to avoid the cold !!!!
mjsponies, Where in Florida is Deland? My sister is on the outskirts of Tampa and I can't imagine what havoc freezing weather is causing over in Florida. Whenever we've visited(mostly in spring and summer) it has always felt so hot and humid that we spent more time around water than anywhere else just to keep cool. Your plants must be wondering what is going on!
We are expecting very low temps midweek(lows in the upper teens) here but I have most things mulched thanks to our great weather last week. At least we aren't forecast for snow or sleet.(yet)
teacup,
Deland is about 20 west of Daytona Beach, about an hour north of Orlando proper. Actually I'm on the north side of Deland, closer to Deleon Springs. We are also out in the country, a mile and a half to a paved road. While it's not unusual to get a frost or even a light freeze, heavy frost and killing freezes are unusual. We had a bad winter for it last year, and I'm afraid we will have it again. I was over in the Tampa area just this last weekend and it was getting pretty cold over there too. They have freeze warnings the next few nights also.
Our ground doesn't freeze, so anything root hardy should be fine especially if mulched well, but there's lots of soggy tops out there today.
Most of my saliva's look ok, but I doubt they will make it thru the next couple nights even if covered as it's supposed to go into the mid 20's and it's just about impossible to insulate them enough from that kind of freeze other than the ones right up next to the house. We just aren't used to it here. My Mexicana Limelight is almost 3 1/2 feet tall, and my Purple Majesty a bit bigger, so it's tough to cover them.
Anyway there's alot out there that without a freeze would be huge next year., Oh well, that's why I take cuttings and keep back up plants or have seeds to start inside.
just hoping and taking a few cuttings .. oh well, we will see what is cold hardy. And I think many will survive..
Elaine
Joseph,
Yes, it was 14" deep at one stage. But now it is melting, so we may have floods! Enjoy Manchester....if that is possible!