We began publishing our Everything Salvias blog in 2010 for your enjoyment and to help you "get it right" when growing sages that are often unavailable at local garden centers.
It seems like there is an endless bounty of stories to be told. But that's to be expected when covering a genus containing an estimated 900 species -- the largest group within the mint family (Lamiaceae). In addition to Salvias, we write about other species that are either mint family members or low-water companions for our many drought-tolerant Salvias. We welcome comments as well as suggestions for future blog posts.
To access articles rapidly based on your interests, please click on the categories below, which include do-it-yourself videos (Views from the Garden). But please note: This is a dangerous place for a sage lover.
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Posted: Saturday, July 26, 2014
Synopsis:
Every now and then, we visit other websites for promising recipes containing sage. For this post, we dropped in at food writer Claire Adas’ Out of the Ordinary cooking website for a sauce of summer squash and sage.
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Posted: Friday, July 25, 2014
Synopsis:
Plants contribute to our lives in many ways -- as sources of beauty, building materials, clothing, food, fragrance, medicine and oxygen. Add hope and fulfillment to the list, because that is what three abundantly blooming Salvias from Australia add to the lives of seriously ill children. These plants form the Wish Collection -- Wendy's Wish Sage, Ember's Wish Sage, and Love and Wishes Sage. Flowers by the Sea is one of the first online nurseries in America to sell all three. Although we have grown and sold Wendy's Wish for a number of years, Ember's Wish and Love and Wishes are new at FBTS.
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Posted: Saturday, July 19, 2014
Synopsis:
The Sage Experts series focuses on Salvia specialists — both amateurs and professionals -- in settings ranging from botanic gardens to universities. Kathy Musial, curator of live collections at Southern California's Huntington Gardens, is the subject of this profile. If you imagine a great dinner party involving lots of garden talk, Kathy Musial would be an ideal guest who could share her experiences plant trekking in Australia and Chile or co-managing some 14,000 varieties of plants at Huntington.
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Posted: Friday, July 18, 2014
Synopsis:
Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay once housed prisoners, many of whom helped beautify "The Rock" by working in prison gardens. Nowadays, volunteer gardeners keep the island flowering with the help of long-blooming, drought-tolerant Salvias
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Posted: Monday, July 14, 2014
Synopsis:
Portraits in Gardening is a new blog series from Flowers by the Sea that profiles customers who are passionate about the Salvia genus. This post features Illinois gardener Michael Kampf who has succeeded in growing many kinds of Salvias despite the frigid winters and fiercely hot summers of the Chicago area. He began gardening when 6 years old with encouragement from his mother and fell in love with Salvias at age 12.
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Posted: Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Synopsis:
Flowers by the Sea ships plants year round. However, at any given time we may be out of stock for plants in high demand. Clicking on the Email me when back in stock button causes you to receive an email immediately when the plant is back in stock. Production of some plants is limited. Some can only be obtained for spring delivery; others require special ordering.
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Posted: Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Synopsis:
Most bat faces only look beautiful to their mothers. However bat-faced Cuphea schumannii seems pretty as punch to hummingbirds in search of a sweet drink of nectar. If you take a close look at the ragged, open end of each flower, you'll see two, tiny, lavender petals standing straight up like bat or mouse ears. So, despite its common name, Orange Cigar Plant, this species is known as a bat-faced Cuphea. Aside from being excellent for attracting pollinators, Cupheas are becoming important agricultural crops that reduce pesticide use.
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Posted: Sunday, June 22, 2014
Synopsis:
Sage Experts is a new feature on our Everything Salvias blog. It focuses on horticulturalists -- both amateurs and professionals -- in settings ranging from botanic gardens to universities. All have expertise in cultivating plants in the Salvia genus. This first profile talks about Argentina's Rolando Uria, an agronomy professor at the University of Buenos Aires and a presenter at the 2013 Salvia Summit II. Uria is well known for discovering Salvia 'Amistad'.
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Posted: Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Synopsis:
Native plants, including California's many indigenous sages, are like the boys or girls next door who were overlooked until outsiders discovered their good looks and other fine attributes. Flowers by the Sea grows hardy, drought-resistant California Salvias that are native to a broad swath of the West Coast ranging from Northern Baja to Southern Oregon. Many tolerate heat. They are well suited to waterwise landscapes, including dry gardens.
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Posted: Saturday, June 14, 2014
Synopsis:
Ask Mr. Sage answers questions based on calls and emails that Flowers by the Sea receives. This post concerns Salvias that are edible and tasty. Although we are unaware of any Salvia species (true sages) that contain poisonous parts, we are cautious about which ones to recommend for culinary use. A link to our culinary species is included along with links to our blog posts about cooking with sages.
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Posted: Saturday, June 7, 2014
Synopsis: Ask Mr. Sage answers questions based on calls and emails that Flowers by the Sea receives. This one explains the many factors that can cause the color of a plant's flowers to vary from one location to another. The blossom color of Flowers by the Sea plants in your garden may not always exactly match the colors in our photographs.
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Posted: Sunday, June 1, 2014
Synopsis:
Ask Mr. Sage answers questions based on calls and emails that Flowers by the Sea receives. This one explains how to cruise the Flowers by the Sea online catalog to find butterfly and hummingbird Salvias that can handle lots of moisture.
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Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2014
Synopsis:
The Plant Lover's Guide to Salvias by John Whittlesey not only is a lavishly photographed, well-organized resource about the Salvia genus but also a lovely coffee table book that may inspire anyone who opens its pages to spend time in the garden. Whittlesey says his Canyon Creek Nursery in rural Northern California has an "extreme" Mediterranean climate with little rainfall from summer through early autumn when temperatures can reach up to 108 degrees F.
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Posted: Sunday, May 18, 2014
Synopsis:
Ask Mr. Sage answers questions based on calls and emails that Flowers by the Sea receives, including ones concerning problems with plants customers have purchased. This article covers our unconditional guarantee to refund or credit purchases without making customers jump through hoops. It also touches on the process FBTS goes through in trying to diagnose plant ailments.
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Posted: Friday, May 16, 2014
Synopsis:
Portraits in Gardening is a new ongoing feature in the Everything Salvias blog of Flowers by the Sea. This first post focuses on Dave and Eleanor Holland's Northern California garden, which beckons bees, butterflies and hummingbirds due to its abundance of sages.
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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014
Synopsis:
Regional differences in seasonal temperature and humidity affect the choice of Salvias to plant in hummingbird gardens. The varying seasons in which particular sages bloom and the part of the world where they originated also determine whether they attract hummingbirds. Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery offers suggestions based on regions and seasons.
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Posted: Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Synopsis:
Ask Mr. Sage answers questions based on calls and emails that Flowers by the Sea receives, such as concerns about what Salvias will grow in clay soils. This article talks about specific plants for dry and wet clay conditions, how to improve soil drainage and planting on slopes in wet areas.
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Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2014
Synopsis:
Ask Mr. Sage is a Q&A feature from Flowers by the Sea. This one talks about how to ward off snails and slugs safely through simple organic methods, including barriers and handpicking, as well as through careful use of iron-phosphate pesticides. It also talks about how to nurse damaged Salvias back to health.
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Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2014
Synopsis:
Reading Marlene A. Condon's Nature-Friendly Garden is like observing a game of toppling dominoes. All the pieces are lined up standing on end in a complex, maze-like pattern. Flick one domino and the whole structure tumbles. Similarly, the author shows how simple choices we make in our gardens have consequences that can build or destroy wildlife habitat.
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Posted: Sunday, March 9, 2014
Synopsis:
Pineapple Sage looks and tastes delightful in many foods, including baked goods. It's a surprising treat in herb butters and marmalade.
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Posted: Friday, March 7, 2014
Synopsis:
Flowers by the Sea recently received classification as a certified Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch. When you purchase milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.) from FBTS or seed from Monarch Watch, you can grow your own waystation and help Monarchs start making a comeback from their precipitous decline of recent years.
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Posted: Sunday, March 2, 2014
Synopsis:
Customers often ask us how they can receive a print catalog of the hundreds of plants grown and sold by our online nursery, Flowers by the Sea. The answer is that we have never printed a catalog and never will for financial, managerial and environmental reasons. We prefer our online-only garden catalog, because it is wallet-friendly, encourages diversity in the garden, offers efficiency and helps protect the environment.
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Posted: Thursday, February 27, 2014
Synopsis:
Lawn Gone by Texas landscaper and garden writer Pam Penick concerns replacement or minimization of lawns through xeriscape, the art of planting attractive waterwise landscapes. Penick redefines suburban yards through designs including perennial groundcovers and small shrubs -- such as Autumn Sages (Salvia greggii spp.) -- as well as ornamental grasses, sedges and hardscape, including water features. Flowers by the Sea specializes in Salvias and other xeriscapic plants.
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Posted: Monday, February 10, 2014
Synopsis:
To make it easier for you to access articles in our rapidly growing Everything Salvias blog, we have expanded our index of special topics. You'll discover choices including categories for butterfly and hummingbird gardening, how-to videos, shade gardening and xeriscape.
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Posted: Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Synopsis:
Drought-resistant, heat-tolerant, vibrantly colored Suncrest Salvias (sages) have arrived at Flowers by the Sea and will be available for shipping in April. Suncrest Salvias are floriferous hybrids of species native to the American Southwest and Mexico, including Mountain Sage (Salvia microphylla), Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii), Jame Sage (Salvia x jamensis) and Royal Purple Autumn Sage (Salvia muelleri).
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