Salvia greggii "Flame"

Hi, What is the bloom time for this salvia?

I was thinking of ordering it from Lazy SS along w/ a few others.

I would like it for hummingbirds.

Thanks, Pelle

I don't have that particular one, but all my other greggii cultivars bloom on and off pretty much all year except for a month or two in the winter. In your zone they'll take a longer winter break than they do here but they still should bloom for a long time.

Thank you ecrane!

In my garden, the hummers were quite attracted to Salvia guaranitica, a blue flowering salvia, and Salvia subrotunda, orange flowerer. S. guaranitica is perennial here in Wilmington, DE, and S. subrotunda is annual but makes a ton of seed and would behave as a perennial coming up easily from self-sown seeds.

Joseph

Gerris, do you propagate S. Guaranitica? It has become my mission this year to obtain more. Last year I could never find seed, are they sterile? The cuttings I tried were in Summer and Fall failed, hope I'll have better luck with Spring cuttings. Any tips you could share? I'm in love these, please help.lol

Hi cocoa_lulu, no I don't propagate this species, I bought the plants a couple years ago. I have collected seeds from S. guaranitica but only a few, and have not tried germinating them. I will look for them but my shaky memory tells me I may have traded them away. I will get back with you.

Thank you, Gerris. Do you remember if the seed you found were white? I tore apart fallen and fresh blooms and thought maybe I had found seed, but it was white in color and just didn't seem right for a salvia. Seems odd but, could it be possible for it to ripen after it falls to the ground?

These were dark colored seeds as I remember them. I don't know the answer to your question about the seed ripening off of the plant...I would think the white seed was not ripe yet.

Pelletory, didn't mean to hijacked your thread. The Guaraniticas have been on my mind alot and when Gerris mentioned it, I jumped.Sorry.
I don't know how the greggiis' bloom up North but here, I get a heavy Spring flush and the rest of the Summer it blooms here and there.

cocoa, I also have rotten luck with a lot of my salvia cuttings....don't know why...just do. But in the last several weeks I have been rooting guaraniticas in water. Omaha Gold and Costa Rica Blue specifically. Actually took cuttings of quite a few various salvias and in the last several weeks have 50 rooted and in pots. Reverse osmosis water and a drop or two of h2o2. Never hurts to try.....
Sherry

Thats okay cocoa.

I asked because on the Lazy SS website it says that salvia greggis were the best for surviving in zone 7.

I was also going to order microphylla's Orange Door and San Carlos Festival.

Pell, I'm in 7b and my greggis are over seven years old and have experienced a few hard winters and pulled through. I leave all the branches in Fall and let the leaves pile up to shelter them. I think you'll enjoy them, Lazy S is such a candy store!

Sherry, thanks! You know, rooting in water is the one thing I haven't tried. They are just now breaking dormancy, So I'll give it a shot soon. Silly question, what is reverse osmosis water?

I'm not sure of what "reverse osmosis water" means either. Reverse osmosis requires an energy input and is not a natural, spontaneous process. Desalination plants require a lot of energy. Electricity is used to pressurize the brackish water to reverse the normal flow of water free of electrolytes like salt through the permeable membranes into water containing them. The product of a desalination plant is a stream of salt-free water and a stream of concentrated brine (what is left after the optimum amount of water is squeezed through the membrane) which is usually sent back into the ocean

Since the sap in the cutting's vascular system contains sugars, salts, and soluble nutrients, water surrounding the cuttings has a natural tendency to want to enter the stem. This keeps the stem turgid and is regular osmosis.

In a damp, loose (airy) media like vermiculite, the local vapor pressure of water is high, so water is still available to the cutting. It has to work for it harder, though, stimulating root growth. In wet media, there is water coating all the solid particles, so the difference is mostly the availability of air and the more rapid exchange of gases in the immediate vicinity of the cutting. Water can be transported in the gaseous phase, leaving water mobile pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and mold spores behind.

In a totally water phase, pathogens are completely free to migrate wherever they can find a host to degrade. In a rooting media where there is little liquid water phase (mostly between the layers of the vermiculite particles or the pores in perlite), the pathogens lack the means to move about. Using sharp, angular sand in the mixture reduces the contact of the cutting stem with the media particles, giving the cutting more contact with water vapor and less with liquid water.

Of course, the benefits of the sharp, airy media apply most to the rooting of xeric or dryland plants like Salvia greggii and less to subtropical species like pineapple sage, which readily form aerial roots in the presence of cool or damp soil.

The water for our house is treated by reverse osmosis, filtering out chlorine, etc......I mention it only because that's what I use,because that's what we have. Otherwise I'd probably use distilled water or spring water...only because I'm not sure if the chlorine, fluoride,etc. in our water would inhibit rooting. Yes, I know all of the reasons why rooting in my usual media would be a better choice, but I'm sure impressed with how easily a lot of these root in water and I've had no problems with the transition to soil. Next to try are the greggii...true, they may not root, but I'll give it a shot.

Ah, thank you for the responses. I hope water rooting works too. I'm going to keep a lot of notes this year on the S.G's and hopefully narrow down the rooting problems. Why is it the most beloved plants are the hardest to propagate? lol