On the occasions when I see this plant offered for sale on eBay, and it doesn't get purchased, I just shake my head. If people could see how stunning this thing gets, there'd be a big fat bidding war for it.
Salvias are so great, but this one almost makes me pass out, it's that gorgeous. Is anybody else out there growing it?
No, but it's on my wish list!
So, pretty! :)
It does this ...
Oh, you're killing me! It's so gorgeous!
If you're in the US, maybe we can trade this summer. :)
See, it's dangerous, isn't it? But I'm a sucker for just about whatever Salvia I happen to be looking at, at the moment. Right now, Salvia curviflora is pretty fabulous too.
If I ever can get Salvia gesneraeflora 'Tequila' to bloom with some candidates with the right characteristics, I hope to get some summer blooming hybrids, hardy or otherwise.
Ditto with Salvia curviflora. Mine is blooming as well as my Tequila, but not much else worth crossing with.
Rich, have you tried saving pollen from some summer bloomers to use in this season? I have not tried this yet, don't know how long salvia pollens might hold in the freezer?
I don't have a crystal ball, but I see these two salvias in my future!
Pollen has to germinate, just like seed does. As I understand it, the pollen grain opens up a hole on the stigma and sends sperm through a sperm tube through the style to the gynobase, where the unfertilized nutlets await the sperm. Inability to germinate and to form the tube are problems that I know little about. Self-incompatibility is another.
Rich, my question was, have you tried to collect pollen from blooming salvia to use on different salvia, blooming in another season? Something you wished to cross with, say, S. curviflora, but which bloomed at a different time, so you collected pollen to use later when the S. curviflora bloomed? A delayed romance, so to speak?
Sounds like alot of work to try to hand pollinate, I will let the naturals go at it this spring and summer here in my back yard.. I love those reds...
Yeah, but bees are my heroes, I want to imitate them.
They certainly work hard for me here in Kansas! Sometimes they get so full of pollen they just lay in the blooms....
I have not yet checked the Internet for durability of stored pollen. I have been spending the last few days trying to debug my home computer network.
Rich,I had thought maybe you already had been working with stored pollens for salvias. I've got a bag of vials of Brugmansia pollen in the freezer, but haven't started with salvia pollen yet, I had hoped you might have some experience with viability in storage.
Sorry if your computer is being tricky, I hope it straightens out and starts your new year nicely.
shushinggrasses, are you in Arizona? With a 2 hour difference in time zone, and outdoor plantings of Tequila, that's about the only place in the USA I can think you can be.
Are there many bumblebees in your area? They abort the pollination of Salvias. We have carpenter bees, bumbles with shiny black bums. They bore 1/2 holes in my wood tables to make homes, and with their presence, I have very little seed to collect as a result.
Without forests, I'd think there would not be many of them in Arizona.
Rich, I had not updated to Pacific Standard Time since we set the clocks back, so did not have the correct time on my postings, I'm 3 hours from you, not 2. Good sleuthing there on your part.
I'm in Southern California, and I have many bees of all kinds here, and yes, they do abort quite a lot of Salvia seed-setting. I've seen maybe a total of three seeds on the perpetually bumblebeed S. 'Purple Majesty", but I do get a number of seeds on the 'Tequila', maybe because there are so many thousands of flowers, the bees can't work all of them. Too bad you don't get as much seed as you'd probably like, but nice that you have the bees. And nice they can multipurpose your wood tables for you, right?
I would love some of your seeds shushing, if you have some to spare.. I have tons of other seeds for trade...Debra
Thanks, Debra, I'm putting together some seeds I'll be offering for sale on DG Marketplace and maybe eBay, but I'll have more to collect come spring and summer, so I appreciate your offer to trade and I'll see what I have available come spring.
I did some searching on Google about storing pollen, and the best technique I can cobble together is to collect loaded anthers, place them into a vial, let them dry for a day, then label the vial and enclose with a FRESH silica gel packet. Refrigerate away from the freezer unit or the cold air delivery from the freezer (maintain 0 - 5 C or 32 - 41 F). This stored pollen should be good for at least 6 months, maybe up to 5 years.
Corn and fruit trees like apples and citrus have their pollen stored this way.
I say FRESH silica gel packs, because they quickly absorb atmospheric moisture. One day's exposure, and they are saturated with water from the atmosphere and become useless.
Here is a rechargeable silica gel dehumidifier for hardware stored in cabinets. If you use a refrigerator, you will still need to build an air-tight inner cabinet. That's because enough air will be exchanged with fresh humidity every time you open the freezer or refrigerator compartments. You might try rotating a couple of the 40-gram units in a 1 foot cubic box.
http://www.theruststore.com/Hydrosorbent-Dehumidifiers-C27.aspx
http://www.theruststore.com/750-Gram-Rechargeable-Silica-Gel-Canister-P57C27.aspx
Thank you, Rich, nice of you to do that research. Until I hear of anyone else's experiences, I'd probably just treat Salvia pollens like I do other pollen.
I like that name, The Rust Store, in the links you provided, useful stuff.
shushinggrsses, let me know your ebay id when you are ready to sell those seeds.. thanks, Debra
Me too!
Glad to see your enthusiasm, thanks!
Ok...I'm looking for the seeds now...being in Central Florida I'd like to get them started indoors as I would be able to put them out by March. If anyone finds a source please let me know!!!
thank
mj
I finally found seeds for this and will be starting them as soon as I get those darned annuals out of the way....YIPPE... found a few other really neat Salvias too that I will be starting soon.
I'm sooo excited.
Still have some I'm looking for....as usual.
My Tequilla's are starting to sprout....Yeah!!!!! The Columbia Ivy Sage is up...I'm really excited about this one !
I'm in zone 9a and it froze on me in a relatively mild winter. It's gorgeous though.
all my sages and salvias are up and going and my hotlips has even bloomed.. my tequila is looking good too. I am so ready for spring! ( still freezing here)
Just spotted some new growth on my `Black and Blue' Salvias! I'm so happy to see them back. Lost my Acanthus mollis, though. :-(
