Hi,
The nursery where I work has been carrying a new line of Salvias called 'Mesa hybrids'. They supposedly are compact microphyllas...they are offered in blue-purple, Rose and Red. Anyone have any info on these new plants? I am a little suspect about their parentage as I have never seen a blue-purple microphylla. The grower knows nothing about them other than they came from a plug company. Also...Monterey Bay Nsy is offering a line of compact microphyllas. They seem like nice little plants, a definite improvement on the species. Not sure if they are selections or are hybrids with greggiis.
Andy
PS...My S. gravida is starting to bud!!!!!!!!!
Salvia 'Mesa hybrids'
This is a photo of the Mesa Purple...6-7 of them came home with me today...:
Close-up for the color, okay, so it's blurry...LOL, but shows the color well:
Flower colour resembles that of Salvia 'Christine Yeo' which is supposed to be hybrid of chamaedryoides x microphylla. BUT the leaves are wrong. Another beautiful hybrid maybe?
My Christine Yeo flowers are smaller than these, leaves smaller also. There are other colors in the Mesa series, but I'm not currently interested in more reds or rose, but they have an 'Azure' that's quite pretty:
http://www.wyldwestannuals.com/002SALVIA/pres0004.htm
I recently purchased a Salvia w/ the "blue purple" bloom. It's VERY compact, and not particularly cold or drought tolerant compared' to other Salvia's even this early in the year. Don't know if it's the same, but so far I'm not impressed. If it doesn't 'do better I'll move it. Can't quite bring myself to trash it.
It didn't have a tag so I don't know the name of it.
This message was edited Apr 11, 2009 5:44 AM
I talked to the grower who sold me the Mesa series Salvias...from the info given me they are microphylla hybrids. The Mesa Purple has been a great performer for me....blooms its head off....flowers are quite large too for a microphylla type. Mjs ponies...I am pretty sure you didn't get one of the Mesa series by your description.
I purchased 3 of the purple and 2 of the rose. The colors are pretty and they do pack a lot of nectar for the Hummingbirds...BUT, silly me didn't check the tags they came with til after I planted them. I was wanting perennials. the tags state no zone but say "a tender perennial that tolerates a light frost".
Crap! What the...(I said to myself), who's making up the tags? Geeesssshhhh. That told me nothing other than it's an annual for everywhere except Florida.
Did anyone else have better tags with theirs?
I'm in zone 5...
This message was edited Jun 11, 2009 7:46 AM
Unfortunately my tags said the same thing....I talked with the grower I got mine from and he said he has no info about them. I am finding them to be a bit tempermental in my So Cal garden....they need alot of water, great drainage and don't seem to live very long....ie they bloomed a ton and then died.
Andy
Andy, I don't know if I'm glad to hear that or not.....one of mine is not looking so good, but at least I know that if YOURS died, the fault is the plant, not mine.......
I know this is an older thread....
I was given seeds from a gal who purchased a "Mesa Purple" -- can't recall off the top of my head how many seeds I got, but I got one beautiful plant. I do recall it was a late bloomer, here in zone5. [In my notes, i recall it was not blooming yet at the end of Aug] and it was/is still blooming here in early Nov and our nights have been getting COLD. We have definitely had a few light frosts - and it's been going strong.
when i asked the gal about collecting seeds.. .she mentioned that is needs Hummingbirds to pollinate them... which i do nto have here, so i figured no way would I get any seeds... next best thing... dig up the plant and over winter it.... which i did yesterday between rain and hail bursts form the sky.
I gave it a good soaking with diluted compost tea and SuperThrive... so i'm sure it will do just fine. I left it in the garage last night and probably put it back on the patio today since it looks like it will be a sunny day.
I think I will keep it in a south facing window for the winter and just see how it goes.
here is one image i have with a Savia coccinea - Bonfire i believe.
here is a close up of the blooms... taken 10/20/10
Very beautiful colour. I have somethinjg vaguely similar, with almost lime-green foliage, will look for a photo, but think I may have forgotten to take one.
Here is the plant I grew from Mesa Purple seeds this past spring.
Dug it up, potted it and will keep it in my living room until next year.
It even has 2 new blooms...
here are the new blooms..
That is a beautiful shade of purple!
thanks.. i just love the color. I've never 'saved' a plant before and brought it inside. I really love this plant.
Have you tried cuttings and rooting?
I dont know how to do that. I've gotten cuttings before, in trade, and they always died.
well,,, probably not a good time to try now, but in the spring, just cut off a few stems, put them in potting soil and most will root easily. You can use rooting hormone.
thanks Georgia.
Gorgeous ! That deep rich purple is one of my favorite colors !
OH MJ... this one should be hardy in your zone.
When i asked for the seeds, i guess i really had no idea 'what' the plant was... i just saw, salvia and purple -- 2 of my favorite things... so this was a super surprise when i finally found it blooming in Oct.
You're welcome.
I like Itasca.. as in,,, would like a new motorhome.. lol
yeah... sort of. Itasca Motor Homes are actually made in Indiana. then you have Lake Itasca, up in MN -- which i do believe is where the Mississippi River starts... we are just a lil town about 30 miles west of Chicago. It's a great lil town though.
yepper,,, I love little towns. We live in an unincorporated area.. in the woods. It is nice to have the big city sort of nearby (Atlanta) ....lol
Tcs1366,
You grew the purple from seeds? I think you were very lucky if it grew "true" since it's a hybrid. I tried several times to grow 'Black Cherry' from seeds, but none came true and that's a hybrid too. I have to buy the plants every year since we don't have room to over winter everything...oh well.
The sad part is there are no nurseries here locally that will have them anymore. I grew the purple and Rose Mesa in 2009 when one of our local nurseries offered it...they were lovely! Unfortunately, the only places online that have them are wholesalers and I can't buy any from them and they won't ship them to me either...Grrrrrr.
Here are a couple of pics. this one shows a single Purple Mesa Salvia with a Maraschino Salvia...
And here's another area of our gardens:
Front row: Rose Mesa on either side and Ultra Violet in the middle
Middle row: 2 Purple Mesas
Back Row: 2 Hot Lips
This message was edited Jan 25, 2011 10:34 PM
Very pretty Susan.
I was able to collect 4 seeds off the Mesa Purple that I grew... we shall see what they produce.
I had to move the Mesa Purple into the basement infront of a window because my son brought home a kitty who was digging to china in the pot.
It's lost a few leaves - the plant is still huge, and has a lot of new growth. I can not wait to see it this summer. i will have to trim it back because i plan to take it to Wisc with me for the summer.
tcs1366,
Those seeds will not grow true to the parent plant...it's a hybrid. There is a 99% chance that the plants (if they even germinate) will grow deformed in some way...producing hardly any blooms, off bloom coloration, might not produce nectar, dwarf/stunted growth, unruley growth, etc.
I was curious trying to do the same with another hybrid Salvia...'Black Cherry'. I got tired of buying it and was trying to save money. Well, I had 6 seeds and they all germinated. I thought, well, what do you know, all the people that I talked with told me it was unlikely I'd have a 'Black Cherry' grow from seed.
After about a month after germination, one by one they started to die til I was down to one and although it made it through everything including the hardening off process, it was an ugly plant.
So I learned, that either I grow them by cuttings, or purchase them every year. I learned my lesson :)
Susan -- yea, i kinda know that. The plant above -- the images i posted, I got those seeds in trade from a gal who purchased the plant - so that was the result of hybrid seeds. she seemed impressed of the plant when i showed her pics. she also gave me more [from her original plant] of those seeds, so i will try again, plus attempt to sow the 4 seeds I got off of my plant.
Time will tell ....
tcs...I have the seeds too....out of 4 sowed 3 have germinated and are healthy happily seedlings. I'm sure we got them from the same source so it will be a good comparison.
MJ -- did you just sow them?? I know i need to get at it - she said not to WS them. and i think DH put all my 'stuff' in the garage attic. I wasn't gonna bother him with that now [we've got MIL issues] so maybe Monday i'll get going with it.
I did them inside..under lights. No winter sowing here...it's been 70-85º for the last 3 weeks. I sowed them on 2/13 they were up on 2/19.
If they turn out as nice as your plant that you grew from seed last year I will be happy with that.
This message was edited Mar 2, 2011 5:05 AM
The aspect ratio of the Mesa purple flowers (depth of notches ratio of width to lengths of lobes, etc) remind me of some of the Salvia microphylla seed collected by Sally and Tim Walker of Southwestern Native Seeds. There was an offering of three very compact microphyllas from Sonora or Durango in red, magenta, and purple. I'm still growing the red and purple as S. microphylla SWNS Red or Purple. I have flat bed scans, but no digital images. The red one is definitely tender.
As to the flower color, I suspect there may be some lycioides, muelleri, or coahuilensis genes in the non-red ones. The flower shape of the purple one is most like coahuilensis
This whole subject is becoming complicated. There are SO many new forms, in the USA, Europe, Australia, Argentina and elsewhere. Identical cultivars/hybrids can have different names, in different places.
Just enjoy them.
I think that's part of the fun of growing from seed. Sometimes you get some very nice surprises.
Robin - "Out of the Mist" came up for me. Yeah !
Great! Keep me informed!
I just got two of the Mesa series of greggiis. Mesa Purple has pretty large flowers, and those of Mesa Azure are a bit smaller. The flower color of M Purple is about right for the S. muelleri of Manuel Flores as a match for hue.
M. Azurea matches Salvia azurea grandiflora pretty fell. It is light in color, and has a little too much magenta in it to be a match for the luscious deep pure blue of the mineral azurite. The purest, most saturated blues are still found in section Hastatae sages like sagittata and macrophylla and related species like cacalifolia and patens. S. chamaedryoides from Yucca-Do and S. urica are pure as well, but lighter.
I will be satisfied with reaching a breeding target when someone can get a more saturated pure blue.