Another new form of Salvia patens, this was shown at the Chelsea Flower Show this year. The mid-blue flowers are mainly white on the lower lip. Odd foliage for S. patens, more triangular than normal.
(I don't know who Dot is!)
Robin.
Salvia patens 'Dot's Delight'.
This one is getting better each day, really strong grower. As we are having a much cooler and wetter summer than last year, all forms of patens are flowering well. Such gorgeous flowers.
Still trying to find out who "Dot" is! Dot being a short form of Dorothy. Dorothy has lots of friends in the UK, but let's not go there!!! (Will explain this if I have to, but a bit off-topic!)
Robin.
No, not necessarily, should it be???????
Maybe Dorothy is from Kansas lol.
Joseph,
Your sense of humour does not fail! I think Annette is right, definitely from Kansas!!!
Robin.
Having givien it much thought, Dot actually comes from a beautiful little village called Lewknor, in Oxfordshire, in the UK. Her real name is Dorothy. She has lots of friends!!!
Trust me!!!
Robin.
Dot actually comes from the Midlands in the UK. She does not seed, so is likely to be cross of a normal S. patens and the large form 'Guanajuato'.
What a pity, I would have liked to have shared seed of this, but they are not forthcoming.
Robin.
The Thought that counts Robin;)
Good luck with that! I am finding that there is a quarantine on plants from the San Francisco-Bay area for LBAM (Light Brown Apple Moth from Australia), where a lot of the new USA salvias are located, and importing from Great Britain and the European Union will have two big barriers:
The Rio treaty (Convention on Biological Diversity), which tends to want to keep native plants within their native countries, and
Phytosanitary inspections and fumigations. Right now the concern is for non-European populations of Bemisia tabaci, Thrips palmi, bean golden mosaic virus, *cowpea mild mottle virus, lettuce infectious yellow virus, pepper mild tigré virus, squash leaf curl virus and other viruses transmitted by Bemisia tabaci. Must also be free of any other vector that transmits bean golden mosaic virus, *cowpea mild mottle virus, lettuce infectious yellow virus, pepper mild tigré virus, and squash leaf curl virus. This usually requires a four day methyl bromide fumigation, and only robust rooted plants will survive this, not cuttings.
An alternate pathway through RHS Wisley and RBG Kew, both having certified phytosanitary certification, are probably tied up by the Rio treaty.
I've gotten small amounts of hand-pollinated seed from friends overseas, and I hope there are other means to acquire plants without violating regulations and the essential concerns behind them.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them, please.
I can't comment on the international restrictions, but I know a little about the LBAM since I live in one of the quarantine areas for it. If you're ordering salvias from nurseries/growers I wouldn't think you'd have a problem, there's an inspection program in place and I think if the nursery's passed their inspection then they're allowed to ship things out of the area. I'm not positive though, all I know is that I've been to nurseries that are in quarantine areas and have been able to buy plants from them even though for all they knew I could have lived outside the quarantine zone. So unless other states have decided they're just not going to allow shipments from the Bay Area you should be OK. Getting plants from individual people though would be problematic until the quarantine is lifted (we've been discussing on the CA forum how bummed we all are that most of us can't bring plants with us to our fall Roundup!)
Back to Dot's Delight, I have found 3 seeds, which may or may not be viable, but they are considerably smaller than the usual large patens seeds. All three came from the same seed-head, not found any more since. This is a spectacular Salvia, and extremely floriferous. The leaves are strange, almost ivy-shaped. Christine Yeo visited me yesterday, she is a Salvia expert, and she is convinced that some hybridisation has occurred. We need to find out what other Salvias were in the vicinity where this chance seedling appeared. So far, no details have been forthcoming! But I have been informed that no seeds have been found in the 4 years since this plant was discovered.
Will update when possible, out of the UK for 2 weeks now.
Robin.
Well, the foliage on S. patens `Guanajuato' is definitely out of the norm for most patens species. Is `Dot's Delight' further along this difference?
I hope Robin is on a Salvia vacation and will have more discoveries to tell us about.
Here is a leaf from S. patens 'Dot's Delight'. A bit different from the norm??? It is as vigorous as 'Guanajuato'.
No Salvias for 10 days. Italy for a week, then Copenhagen for a wedding!
Bad timing, as my garden looking its best currently! S. madrensis in full flower, earliest ever. But since the weather has become dull and unsettled, it will be great to see some sun.
Robin.
That is taking a hastate leaf and making it almost palmate. In all my searches through herbarium sheets of Salvias, I've never seen this leaf shape before. I wonder if DNA work might be interesting.
Funny you should mention a wedding, because I will be off-line for about a week for the same reason.