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(Sacred White Sage) Bees, hummingbirds and spiritual blessings are all connected to Salvia apiana, an elegant shrubby sage that is an important herb to indigenous Californians. It deserves a place in salvia gardens that can meet its demands. Stiff and almost fleshy, its leaves are tight rosettes of brilliant, silvery green that is almost white.
(Roseleaf Sage) A glorious bloomer, Roseleaf Sage starts producing hot pink blossoms in late summer and continues into spring -- growing more spectacular every day -- unless cut down to the ground by hard frost.
(Hadspen Roseleaf Sage) If you plant this sage in a mild-climate area where hummingbirds overwinter, you'll likely find hummers zinging back and forth among its magenta pink blossoms from fall through spring.
(Compact Sacred White Sage) Salvia apiana var. compacta is significantly shorter than the common species of Sacred White Sage and somewhat more cold tolerant. Its smaller leaves and compact form make it a tidier choice for home gardens with the right kind of growing conditions.
Results for cultivate from the blog
| Ask Mr. Sage |
| 1. Ask Mr Sage: What Kind of Plant Is a Clone? |
| It's helpful to understand botanical terminology such as clone, variety, and cultivar. Mr. Sage explains what the three words mean and how the processes of cloning and plant development work. Ask Mr. Sage is a regular feature of the FBTS Everything Salvias Blog and is based on questions from customers. |
| Xeric Choices |
| 2. Xeric Choices: Salvias in the Waterwise Garden |
| Lush but not lushes - that's one way you might sum up the majority of Salvias. Despite their long bloom times and bushy foliage, Salvias don't generally belly up to the water hose. Overall, they are perfect for xeriscape gardening -- the art of creating great beauty in the garden while conserving water. |
| Sage Experts |
| 3. Sage Experts: Meet Professor Rolando Uria of Argentina |
| 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'. |
| Ask Mr. Sage |
| 4. Ask Mr. Sage: How FBTS Chooses New Salvias |
| Some Salvia collectors want to obtain a broad range of sages including all the new introductions on the market. But Flowers by the Sea can't and doesn't want to grow all the new cultivars available, partly because there is a growing abundance of Salvia introductions. Instead, FBTS focuses on selecting the most superior new plants even when introducing its own hybrids in its series of Rainbow Jame Sages. Ask Mr. Sage is a regular feature based on calls and emails received by FBTS. |
| Hummingbirds in the Garden |
| 5. 5 Big Orange Bedding Plant Beauties for Hummingbirds |
| You'll hear a lot about red when planting annuals for wildlife gardens, because hummingbirds garden love red, tubular, nectar-rich flowers. But orange is another hummingbird favorite not to be neglected. Flowers by the Sea suggests five long blooming species for your landscape that begin shouting "Orange, orange, orange" in spring when hummingbirds are big-time hungry now, now, now as they head north for the nesting season. |
| Sacred Sages |
| 6. A Guide to Growing and Respecting Sacred White Sage |
| White Sage (Salvia apiana) is a sacred plant for Native Americans, especially tribes in its Southern California native lands. It's a challenging plant to grow. Flowers by the Sea Farm and Nursery talks about the history and religious use of Salvia apiana as well as providing a guide to growing it. |
| Celebrity Salvias |
| 7. 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. |
| Sacred Sages |
| 8. Sacred Sage: Salvia mellifera -- the Easiest California Native |
| Long before the West Coast was colonized, California Indians used Black Sage ( Salvia mellifera Greene) for food and medicinal purposes. Today, it often is bundled in smudge sticks used like incense during purification rituals. Another reason to consider Black Sage sacred is that, among the state’s native plants, it is one of the most important sources of nectar for pollinators. Nineteenth century botanist and clergyman Edward Lee Greene made the plant’s botanical name official in 1892 when he was the first person to publish it in a scientific journal. Among California's native Salvias, it is the easiest to grow in home gardens. |
| Sage Experts |
| 9. Sage Experts: Meet Salvia Researcher Jesús Guadalupe González-Gallegos |
| The FBTS Sage Experts series focuses on Salvia specialists -- both amateurs and professionals -- in settings ranging from botanic gardens to universities. This article focuses on Jesús Guadalupe González-Gallegos of the University of Guadalajara, an expert in the taxonomy of Salvias native to Western Mexico. He discusses the megadiversity of Mexican flora and problems involving incorrect identification of sage species. |
| Xeric Choices |
| 10. Xeric Choices: Xeriscape Basics & Ancient Ideas |
| To create a successful xeriscape garden, planning and design are essential. Planning helps you make better choices, which saves time, money and effort as well as water. A little bit of wisdom from ancient Native American practices doesn’t hurt either. While soil improvement is always helpful, it should be moderate for xeric Salvias, such as Autumn Sage and Mealy Cup Sage. Finally, pruning and thinning, strategic groupings of plants for frugal watering and mulching for protection against severe heat or winter chill all were key to ancient Southwestern agriculture as well as modern xeriscaping. |
| 11. The Power of Scent |
| While it's true that not all Salvias smell, well, pleasant, many varieties are grown specifically for the aromatic or even sweet aromas that they release into the air. These ten Salvias are our top picks for the best-smelling varieties in the garden. |
| Salvias Down South |
| 12. Salvias Down South: Tough Texans Sing the Blues |
| Blue Salvias bring peace to flower gardens. True blues, such as West Texas Grass Sage (Salvia reptans), are especially eye-catching. The same anthocyanins that make berries a healthy dietary choice also give them their colors. Similarly these chemicals create the wide variety of blues, purples and reds in the petals of flowers such as Salvias. Flowers by the Sea offers six varieties of tough Texas sages that can help you create a soulful garden bursting with blue. Drought-resistant and long-blooming, they grow happily in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 to 9, with some flourishing in areas as cool as Zone 4 and as hot as Zone 11. |
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