Has anyone grown Salvia nemerosa 'New Demension Blue'?
I am thinking about using it as a border plant. I would appreciate any comments about this plant. It's suppose to only get 9 to 12" tall. I am thinking it will get taller.
Salvia nemerosa
I've grown many salvia nemerosa's, but not that variety, sorry. If you decide to try it, I'd love to see pix of your results!
Weerobin: I have the plant. In fact, I picked up five of them at half price awhile back. I just haven't put them in the ground yet. I am hesitant to use them as a "border" plant. I was hoping to learn a little more about this plant before I put it in the garden.
I will take pictures next year to show how it has done.
I just saw a bunch of them at a garden center - the Garden Center at Home Depot. They were on sale, so they have been around a while. They had a bunch of them and each and every one looked fantastic, which is an extremely good sign, since plants sold in those environments aren't pampered.
I think that you can feel very confident.
Thanks, Donna for the info. I am mostly concerned about the plants height. It says about 12 inches-but I think it will get larger.
Haven't seen you around much? Maybe just missing your posts.
How is the Garden Master's Program going-or have you completed it?
The ones I saw were about 12 inches. They were a bright healthy blue.The main difference is the height. hese new babies were 12 inches.
I got the impression that it has been very quiet. I check in a couple of times a day and have been able to give some advice on lilies. I've been lurking a lot on perennials and helping people who are looking for lilies on, well lilies. I love the perennial threads on white flowers and the one on fragrance.
Yes, I finished the Masrer Gardener Program. I've been working at the Help Desk in four hour sections, and its fun to be able to help people, espacially with plany choices. My favorite so far was when a gentleman came in, thought he might like a specific cultivar of viburnum dentatum, and I was able to show him my Daves Garden pictures of its size and what it looked like in spring and fall. I'm also helping to maintain a rain garden and a prairie garden.
I'll bet a lot of people on the perennial forum, like you, would be smashing Master gardeners. In the end, its a love of plants and growing them, and the joy of sharing what you know, are what make a person good at this.
I also got a contact. A couple in a charming community about 15 miles away needed help with their LARGE English style garden. Someone kindly passed on my name. They asked to see pics of my garden, liked what they saw, and now I am in charge of maintaining theirs on a weekly and seasonal basis. Someone else mows, and I supervise activities like laying mulch (can you imagine?) and, well. I'm having a blast. I prune, and trim and advise on plant acquisition, and watch for problems. They entertain a lot, and the husband used to be like me, a rabid gardener. he no longer has the time, but we have the fun of conferring on the state of the garden. He is a very funny man, his family is from heaven, and my feeling is - I'm paid for this?
And then I am helping to expand the children's gardening programs at my local library. We are working on getting a project approved wit the Kane County Master Gardening program.
All this from going through the program. I'm loving it!
Thanks for asking!
How great for you! How long did it take to go through the program? If I were a little younger...
Beth, I have lots of Salvias, but not that one. I actually have trouble telling the difference between Blue Hill and East Friesland, the colors are very similar, and my tags got mixed up. May Night is a little deeper, Dwarf Blue Queen a little brighter... But all those difference are very subtle, I find, especially in the bright sun where they are the happiest. They're all about the same height, too.
Can you tell in the pot how tall yours are? If they've been growing for a while they should be at or close to mature height, I would think... The ones I see in the nurseries are usually so pumped up they're even a little taller than in my garden, even though I have good soil.
Hi Donna,
Glad you enjoyed the Master Garden Program and reaping the rewards. Good For You!
I am enrolled for a M. G. program this fall. They offered it in the summer--during the day--no takers -or-not enough to offer the program. So, discouraging. So, they are trying again this fall. I hope it's a "go". I have wanted to do this for a long time-but it hasn't been offered.
The help with the English Garden sounds like a lot of fun. Also, being able to discuss gardening with the gent would be much fun. My area puts in shrubs and three petunias and that's called "gardening".
I think the Master Gardener's got a real deal when you joined!
Hi Pam, thanks for replying.
Yes, the Salvias have been in the pot for quite sometime. I've sort of been waiting to "see" how tall they grew. They are not very tall-probably about 9 inches. I planted them tonight along a sidewalk hoping they will behave as a border plant. I kind of think they will since I have been watching them in the pots for quite awhile. They will be getting some shade so maybe they will stay small. Or, they may not perform there-I certainly have other places with more sun if this doesn't work.
Hi Pam,
It takes about four months. Classes are every week, with an exam every week, but it is open book and take home. Attendance is mandatory - if you miss a class you have to make it up, but - you can take the entire class online. I was taking it in January, so I was concerned about driving, but they really encouraged me to be there physically. Some of the lecturers were truly excellent. And there are tons of material. At the end you have a week to take a 100 question multiple choice test. Like many open book tests their tend to have a trick or two. You need 80% to pass.
Then you are in an interim phase, and you need to spend 30 hours at the"Help Desk" where you come into the extension office and answer questions by phone, mail, email and in person. At first there is always a senior master gardener with you, but you quickly get the hang of it. Once you complete the 30 hours, you are a fully fledged MG, and just need to perform 30 hours of continuing education.
One of the great things about the program is that you immediately receive updates about all horticultural issues. It's fun for me because your knowledge gets stale, and this way, you have easy access to all that is state of the art in the field, and you have experts you can ask. The faculty has about 125 years of collective knowledge. AND they have to stay current. Very cool.
You can also, as I am doing, create a project closer to home as long as it has an educational element. The library has a garden and we were teaching the children how to plant and water. We gave them tiny banana plants and I brought in my own larger plant that had an offshoot so they could see how they grew. They don't want you to perform a lot of manual labor - they want you to teach - very cool.
Go far it, Pam! And congratulations Birder!
Donna, "30 hours of continuing education". Is that on a yearly basis?
Yes, but it takes a billion forms. You can go to a garden center and watch a presentation. You can decided to "sit in" on a Master Gardener class (we always had five or six of them in the back of the room - that's four hours right there). I have actually ended up doing lots of continuing education for which I get no credit. My local nursery did presentations on shrubs, lawns, perennials at no charge.
The other thing I did was go to an all day presentation at a college. $40 for the day, but they tend to reduce your fees, so it was $20 instead of $40 (including lunch). There are presentations that you can watch on your computer - you sign up and they connect you to a site at, say, the University of Ohio. Six hours - boom.
There were four two hour presentations for $10 each, but they waived our fee. I have spent almost no money and I have about 20 hours of continuing education, but it doesn't count because I am still an intern. I have learned about things that they are discussing at research levels. Really cool.
And once you are a fully fledged MG, you no longer have to work the Help Desk, although they often sit in with us.
I'm wondering how available local programs will be around here. I know there are "Master Gardeners" around, but sure don't hear or see anything they do.
They do offer one program in the spring which is pretty good.
Here you go!
http://mg.missouri.edu/areamg.htm
It looks like there are many MG programs in Missouri.
Thanks, I'll check these out--hopefully some will be close enough.
Here they allow you to do it on line. I'll bet yours does too!
Our program is suppose to start the last of this month If they can get 15 to attend. If not, I will ask if I can take the classes on line.
Please do let me know.
Okay.
I wanted to follow up on the Salvia nemerosa 'New Blue Demensions'. It has been a real pleasure to have this plant. I planted it and watered it. It has really been a nice little plant. Perhaps, I should stress Little as that was my concern.
Here are a couple of pictures of the plant as of October.
1. In pretty good soil with some shade but right next to a sidewalk. Probably too much shade is why it is not in bloom--but healthy and happy looking!
2. In poorer soil in full sun with lots of drainage. But, you can see the color of the bloom.
I have been happy with this plant.
those guys look pretty happy to me!
Nice job.
Yes, I think the plants are happy. I noticed today, the one in part shade is blooming.
I know I am happy with them!