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Salvia brandegeei
Salvia brandegeei
(Santa Rosa Island Sage) This is a hardy, California native sage although it is only found in the wild on one of Southern California's Channel Islands. It is drought resistant and forms dense mounds of fragrant, deep green, wrinkly foliage with heavenly clouds of lavender-tinged blue flowers in spring.
Salvia fallax
Salvia fallax

(Silly Mexican Sage) Also known as Salvia roscida, this close relative of Blue Sky Mexican Sage (Salvia caudata 'El Cielo Blue') has thousands of deep violet-blue flowers with prominent white bee lines.

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Results for doing from the blog

1. Our Paperless Catalog Is Wallet-Friendly and Ecofriendly
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.
2. Battles in the Salvia Garden: Controlling Spider Mites - Part II
Pollinators lose important food sources when Salvias and other nectar-rich flowers are destroyed by spider mites. This is Part 2 of a two-part series about understanding and overcoming these dangerous pests. Along with the non-chemical interventions described in Part 1 of this series, gardeners sometimes need the help of predatory insects and mites, insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils. Pesticides called miticides may also eventually be necessary, but should be the last resort.
3. About our Farm: Growing Sage by the Sea
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.
Butterflies in the Garden
4. Leaving the Light on for Butterflies at the Leaf Litter Motel & Wood Pile Lodge
If you want to invite butterflies to lodge in your backyard overnight or during winter, building pretty butterfly houses won't succeed. They need all kinds of messy hangouts to ride out a rain storm, sleep through the night safely and endure winter in your garden. You can build a butterfly hostel without hammer and nails.
Xeric Choices
5. Xeric Choices: How Xeriscape Won the West
How Xeriscape Won the West: Feast or famine: that’s the water situation out West. Unexpected torrential rains, flash floods and long periods of drought are acts of God that people can partially control through water diversion and storage as well as strategic conservation. Low-water landscaping -- coined as "xeriscape" by a Denver environmental planner -- has become popular in the West in the last 30 years.
Butterflies in the Garden
6. Salvias Down South: Southern California Butterfly Favorites
Wildscaping a butterfly-friendly garden in Southern California is an act of kindness, especially toward imperiled species. Gardeners from Santa Barbara southward may want to group coastal sage and chaparral plants in their butterfly gardens, because those are among favorite sources of nectar for adult butterflies and host plants for caterpillars. Sages are popular nectar choices. Plants, such as Milkweeds and Impatiens, that work well both as nectar providers and caterpillar hosts are important additions.
Salvia Small Talk
7. Salvia Small Talk: Garden Diary
Keeping track of plantings from one season to the next can help you improve choices and repeat successes. One way of doing this is to keep a casual garden diary. No, I don't believe Samuel Pepys kept one.
Sage Experts
8. 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.
Portraits in Gardening
9. Portraits in Gardening: Michael and Kathi Rock's Hummingbird Journey
A wedding gift led to Kathi Johnson Rock and Michael Rock's passion for hummingbirds. These Wisconsin birders offer tips and plant suggestions for hummingbird gardeners at FBTS. Although now known as Madison's "Hummingbird People," the Rocks aren't ornithologists or biologists. They are home gardeners and customers of Flowers by the Sea. This article includes a list of favorite hummingbird plants found in the Rocks' gardens.
10. Fall Planting: Tips for Salvia Success
For people and for plants, cool fall weather is comfortable for working in the garden. As gardeners dig, amend soil, weed and water, newly planted perennials focus their efforts on growing strong root systems before the chill of winter. Most perennial sages ( Salvia spp.) thrive if planted in fall. As temperatures decline, the soil remains warm. These conditions cause plants to decrease their growth above ground and focus on root expansion. Here are some tips about why and how you can succeed in the Salvia garden by planting during autumn.
Butterflies in the Garden
11. Growing Habitat: Three Tough Milkweeds to Help Monarchs
Flowers by the Sea Farm and Online Plant Nursery is serious about wildlife gardening and grows a number of milkweed species considered among the best for supporting Monarch butterflies. Three of the nursery's toughest, loveliest milkweeds are Indian Milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa), Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) and Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Read about the history of milkweeds and the reasons why Monarch butterflies are threatened due to a shortage of these tough yet lovely plants caused by herbicides.  Learn how herbicides and pesticides harm Monarchs and other milkweed-loving pollinators.
Ask Mr. Sage
12. Ask Mr. Sage: Why Didn't My Fall Blooming Salvia Flower?
When growing Salvias that begin blooming in fall, Mr. Sage says it's important to know when first frost likely will occur in your area. Ask Mr. Sage is a regular feature of the FBTS Everything Salvias Blog.