Quick Digs is a serial containing short posts focused on a central issue about Salvia gardening. The topic for the first series is Salvia groundcovers for weed control, and this is the first article. Great groundcovers help conserve soil moisture and leave little room for weeds to grow. This is true of many colorful, fragrant Salvias that spread freely. However, it may be that the essential oils creating the pleasant aromas of many Salvias are also helpful in suppressing weeds. Many researchers refer to this apparent trait as the “Salvia phenomenon.”

Most native plant gardens encompass species native to the region or state in which a gardener lives. However, some native gardens -- such as the New England Wild Flower Society's famous Garden in the Woods -- are based on a broad variety of plants native across America.

Creating a butterfly garden is like creating a teen-friendly home. You need to offer tasty snacks, healthy beverages, and comfortable accommodations that aren't too tidy. Like the teens that fill your basement and backyard, butterflies will keep coming back if you give them what they need. The variety of plants in your yard is the main reason why butterflies do or don’t visit. Salvias are among the popular plants for adult butterflies that love nectar.

Instuctions for waterwise gardening often suggest deep watering once a week and applying no more than 1 inch of water, including rainfall. For Salvia, this amounts to what we would call regular or average watering for in-ground plants. But what constitutes an inch of water?

Basic tools for estimating soil moisture include your hands and simple tools, such as a trowel, screwdriver and long metal rod, according to Colorado State University. The first method, which uses the metal tools, might be called the 'poke technique.' The second is the 'feel method.'

Sprinkling is the fine, misguided art of giving your landscape a quick spray of water that moistens foliage as well as soil. This can cause foliar diseases, such as mildew, while also depriving roots of sufficient water. What a perennial needs is a long gulp applied to the ground and at the edge of its canopy or drip line

Warm colors tend to take center stage in a landscape as well as brightening the shade. Yet warm colors generally aren't associated with shady sage (Salvia) gardens, because there are far more shade-tolerant sages in the blue to purple range. So we decided to poke around our catalog and pull together some hot choices that thrive in partial shade.
To make landscaping even easier, you may want to limit your choice of plants to one color. Massing is dramatic.

Deadheading spent Salvia flowers helps to prolong bloom time. However, if you enjoy the company of songbirds and game birds in your garden, let some of the flower spikes go to seed, especially at the end of the plant's flowering season.

Let there be light; let there be brightness. Yellows and oranges are cheerful colors to combine in a grouping of perennials. Pantone's spring 2013 designer colors -- golden yellow Lemon Zest 13-0756 and its hot orange Nectarine 16-1360 -- are fun colors to match to sages (Salvia spp.) that can turn up the light in a garden whether sunny or shady. Two groupings for sunny or shady gardens are offered

"font-style: italic;"> Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden are garden designers and writers who split their time between Texas and Colorado, but their suggestions for low water, xeriscapic landscaping can benefit gardeners far from the American West, Southwest and Deep South. The authors agree with their Dutch contemporary, Piet Oudolf, that a naturalistic landscape design based on local climate -- including water limitations -- is the most sustainable choice.

Color, shape and smell are characteristics that affect whether a bird or insect will dive into a flower in search of food. Whereas bees seem not to notice red at all, it is the go-to color that most birds look for at mealtime.

Most gardeners associate plants in the genus Salvia with full sun, rocky soil, drought and semi-arid native lands. Although a number of sages fit this picture, far more appreciate loamy, fertile garden soil. Some require lots of water. Also, a large number of sages thrive in partial shade, and some tolerate full shade. Here are six of the many shade lovers that Flowers by the Sea grows.

Purples are cool yet quietly passionate. This includes African Violet 16-3520, a spring 2013 designer color created by the Pantone Corporation. Shades in the blue and purple color range are tranquil and soothing yet commanding, because they calm the garden. Here are a number of choices from our catalog that fashionably match Pantone's African Violet.

A 'mass of scarlet awesomeness' is one way that Denver Botanic Gardens Senior Curator Panayoti Kelaidis describes Vermilion Bluffs® Mexican Sage (Salvia darcyi 'Pscarl') at his Prairie Break website. Unlike so many Southwestern sages, Vermilion Bluffs is surprisingly cold hardy as well as being drought tolerant. Its common name is taken from the spectacular red bluffs of the Vermillion Basin Wilderness in Northwestern Colorado, an area redolent with the scent of sage on hot days. But the plant is native to the Nuevo Leon area of Mexico's eastern Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. The story of how its parent plant arrived at Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) and, eventually, at Flowers by the Sea is one of diaspora.

A bright, cherry-licorice red, the large, fuzzy blossoms of Salvia oxyphora would make anyone stop and pay attention. Commonly known as Fuzzy Bolivian Sage or Bolivian Spearhead Sage, S. oxyphora has equally unusual foliage that fools the eye. At a distance, the plant’s lance-shaped leaves appear to be a smooth, glassy green. However, they are covered with tiny clear-to-white hairs. They’re also large -- growing up to 5 inches long and 2 inches wide at maturity -- and taper to long, sharp points. It was first collected near Cochabamba, Bolivia, by German botanist Otto Kunst in 1892

Some kinds of Salvia flowers make good additions to foods ranging from breads to salads. Growing the Salvias yourself is a good way to avoid toxins.

Flowers by the Sea is a home away from home for a number of South African Salvias that enjoy our moderate, Mediterranean climate. None are endangered species, but all face the threat of land development in the Western Cape's Fynbos Biome -- unparalleled for its variety of medicinal and ornamental native plants found nowhere else in the world. Preservationists are working to balance changes in land use and to maintain biodiversity in the CFR. Brutal poaching of rhinoceroses is one of the toughest problems they face.

FBTS quickly explains the differences between annual, biennial and perennial Salvias

Head 'em up; move 'em out. Texas birders participate in an annual Hummingbird Roundup to gather information about the state's 18 species.

Viewing the creamy peach-pink and yellow of California Sunset Autumn Sage (Salvia x jamenis 'California Sunset') may remind you of a Georgia O'Keefe painting. Anyone who has viewed sunset dipping into the mountains of New Mexico knows that soft pastels are common to Southwestern sunsets. Similarly, subtle bicolored combinations of pastels are common characteristics of many S. x jamensis species, which are crosses between various Autumn Sages (Salvia greggii spp.) and Mountain Sages (Salvia microphylla spp.).

Flowers by the Sea (FBTS) is a small, family farm that raises hundreds of species of Salvia and companion plants, including Plectranthus. We are proud of our beautiful plants, excellent customer service and 100 percent guarantee of satisfaction.

Salvias are appealing for their foliage as well as their flowers. However, not everyone has time to learn botanical terminology. Flowers by the Sea tries to make scientific classification easier for those who don't talk the language of leaves.

Twenty-six species of Salvia are native to South Africa and of these, 10 grow nowhere else in the world. Salvias play an important role in providing habitat and food for wildlife as well as brightening the semi-arid landscape in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Some are used in cooking or provide material for herbal remedies used in the alternative medicines taken by many South Africans. Flowers by the Sea grows a number of tough yet lovely South African Salvias.

Learning how to garden in dry shade requires mediation of the needs of all the plants involved. Dry shade is particularly abundant under trees, because they consume lots of water. Fortunately, numerous drought-resistant Salvias can handle life in dry, partial shade. Flowers by the Sea details basic considerations of dry shade gardening and identifies 15 sages for it.

Salvia greggii 'Cold Hardy Pink', a variety of Autumn Sage, is made for Zone 5 winters. It tolerates conditions swinging from hot, dry summers to sub-zero winter temperatures. Pair it with Ultra Violet Sage (Salvia x 'Ultra Violet') for a tough yet lovely border.