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(Dandelion Leaf Sage) Brush or bruise the basal foliage of this Moroccan Salvia and it exudes a citrusy fragrance. Petite and heat tolerant, this is a sturdy, adaptable groundcover.
(Cut Leaf African Blue Sage) In botanical names, aurita means “ear shaped.” It’s the ear-like lobes of this sage’s leaves that give the species part of its name Salvia aurita ssp. galpinii. The cut leaf foliage is heavily lobed, mint green and lightly hairy.
Results for Specimens from the blog
Hummingbirds in the Garden |
1. Red Birds in a Tree: How a Rare Wildflower Became a Hummingbird Garden Star |
Red Birds in a Tree, known botanically as Scrophularia macrantha , is a rare, cold-hardy, Wild West perennial with cheery red flowers hummingbirds love. Southwest New Mexico botanist O.B. Metcalfe collected it in 1904. |
Sage Experts |
2. Sage Experts: How Dr. Dufresne Became the Sultan of Salvia |
December 18, 2018 - With great sadness we have learned that our friend Rich as passed away at his home in Candor, NC. A chance encounter with Pineapple Sage led organic chemist Dr. Richard F. Dufresne to become one of America's leading Salvia researchers. Sage Experts focuses on specialists -- both professionals and amateurs -- who have helped popularize the Salvia genus. Dufresne's life course changed the day he visited Rhode Island's Biodynamic Meadowbrook Herb Farm. Discovering the heady pineapple fragrance of Salvia elegans at Meadowbrook gave him a cause. |
Hummingbirds in the Garden |
3. 6 Indispensable Hummingbird Flowers for Long, Easy Bloom |
Hummingbirds are like tiny combat jets dive bombing each other when staking claim to the nectar-rich flowers they need for survival. Fights over nectar habitat can reduce hummingbird gardens to single occupancy. FBTS Farm and Online Nursery details and tells stories about its top six hummingbird flowers. Plant lots of them to accommodate a village of hungry hummers. |
4. Guide to Fuchsia Cultivation & History |
Like tiny dancers dressed in fancy skirts, Fuchsia flowers dangle from upright shrubs in long blooming hedges and from trailing branches in hanging baskets. Fuchsias are hummingbird favorites that come in many rosy colors. Read about them in the FBTS Guide to Fuchsia Cultivation & History . |
5. Bat-Faced Beauty: Gardeners & Hummingbirds Love Cuphea schumannii |
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. |
New at FBTS |
6. Upcoming at FBTS: Hummingbirds Love Cute Cupheas |
Bright orange, tube-shaped blossoms cover Cuphea x 'David Verity' like tiny windsocks blowing in a breeze and beckoning hummingbirds. Similar to Salvias, Cupheas are rich sources of nectar that fuel hummingbird migration. At Flowers by the Sea, we are always interested in expanding choices for creating wildlife habitat. So we are growing a wide variety of Cupheas for sale this coming spring, including David Verity. |
7. New at FBTS: Hummingbirds Thrive on Margie Griffith Sage |
A love of birds can grow into a passion for gardening. The reverse is also true. Sometimes these passions result in the development of excellent plants, such as Salvia x 'Margie Griffith' -- a 2017 introduction at Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery. Margie Griffith Sage grows up to 96 inches tall and wide in bloom. In some parts of its USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 8 to 11 it feeds hummingbirds nearly year round. |
8. Salvia greggii: Discovering a Riot of Color |
It would be inaccurate to refer to the woody perennial Autumn Sage, or Salvia greggii, as coming in a rainbow of colors, because there is no true blue in the bunch. However, S. greggii cultivars form a riot of lipstick-intense reds, pinks, corals, apricots, oranges, lavenders and purples. Whites, pale yellows and bicolors also are members of the vivid species discovered in the dry, rocky landscapes of Texas and Northern Mexico by 19th century frontiersman, doctor, trader, writer and amateur botanist Josiah Gregg . |
Celebrity Salvias |
9. The Roseleaf Sage Group: Who's Who & What's What |
Differentiating between the plants in a closely related group can feel similar to being an outsider attending a large family reunion. Identifying who's who and how they are connected is a challenge. That's the way it is with Mexico's Roseleaf Sage ( Salvia involucrata ) Group, which is well loved by hummingbirds. FBTS Online Plant Nursery grows a number of species from this winter-blooming group. |
Cultivating Color |
10. Cultivating Color: Tracking the Elusive History of Autumn & Mountain Sage Warm Pastel Hybrids -- Part II |
Luminous Salvia x jamensis pastel flowers began warming up nursery catalogs in the late 1990s. Their journey from steep Mexican mountains to American and European gardens began in the mid-19th century with the discovery of Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii). This is the second post in a two-part article about these Jame Sage hybrids of Autumn and Mountain Sage (S. microphylla). It includes descriptions of ten favorite Jame Sages. |
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