Salvia Small Talk |
1. Salvia Small Talk: Deadheading Deciduous or Semi-Evergreen Soft Stem Sages |
Deadheading (removing) withered blossoms from deciduous soft stem sages like Mexican Bush Sage makes them look tidy and repeat bloom during the growing season. Soft stem means a sage has no woody growth. |
2. Salvia Small Talk: Deadheading Deciduous, Woody Stem Sages |
Deadheading withered blossoms from deciduous woody stem Salvias like Autumn Sage makes them look tidy and repeat bloom during the growing season. A woody stem sage is a subshrub with partially woody growth. |
Salvias Down South |
3. 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. |
Cultivating Color |
4. Pantone Pageant Cheerful Lemon Zest and Nectarine Designer Salvias |
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 |
Ask Mr. Sage |
5. Ask Mr. Sage: First-Aid for Salvia Frost Damage |
Harsh winter weather in areas that normally have mild conditions can bring unwelcome surprises, including the death of favorite plants. This article talks about how and when to remediate frost damage to favorite Salvias in warmer USDA Cold Hardiness Zones. It concludes with a sidebar about a harmful cold snap in California's Bay Area that killed plants as well as birds in 1972 and which changed planting choices at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Ask Mr. Sage is a regular feature that is based on topics raised in calls and emails we receive at Flowers by the Sea. |
6. Plant Safari Salvia in the South African Fynbos -- Part 2 |
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. |
Quick Digs |
7. Quick Digs: Zone 5-9 Groundcover Gardens for Damp Conditions |
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 third article. If you are a Salvia lover facing the difficult scenario of cold winters and damp soil, the sages listed here are right for winter conditions from USDA Zone 5 to 9. All are water-loving, shade-tolerant species and have handsome foliage that adds to landscaping even when the plants aren't blooming. By massing these plants, you gain coverage more rapidly and increase weed deterrence. |
Ask Mr. Sage |
8. Ask Mr. Sage: How Should I Prune my Salvias? |
Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery specializes in Salvias and often receives questions about how to prune them. Although getting good at pruning takes practice, Salvias rebound quickly if you make mistakes. A key to successful pruning is understanding the varying needs of four main categories of sages. Ask Mr. Sage is a regular feature of the FBTS Everything Salvias Blog. |
Cultivating Color |
9. Pantone Pageant: Designer African Violet Salvias and Companions |
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. |
Getting Started with Salvias |
10. Getting Started: Salvias for the Coastal Southeast |
True sages are members of the Salvia genus and number in the hundreds. They are native to a wide variety of environments worldwide, which is why some are ideal for the dry gardens of California and others can handle the abundant moisture of the American Southeast. Flowers by the Sea raises many sages that grow well in the Southeast, including some that are either native to the region or have jumped fences from gardens into the wild. |
Quick Digs |
11. Quick Digs: Wintering Over Salvias Indoors |
For some gardeners, bringing outdoor plants inside during winter is a practical matter. You want to save money. For others, plants are a bit like pets. You feel tender about your tender perennials and can't bear to think of a lovely sage dying from exposure to harsh weather. This fourth article in our Quick Digs series on preparation for winter in the Salvia garden suggests ways to overwinter sages indoors. |
Getting Started with Salvias |
12. Getting Started: Salvias for the Rocky Mountain West |
High altitude, distance from large bodies of water and powerful chinook winds make the Rocky Mountain West a dry gardening environment even in years of higher than average rain and snow. The region's steep mountains have a major impact on where and how precipitation falls. Instead of a single mountain chain, the Rocky Mountains are made up of 100 separate ranges. Similarly, the Salvia genus contains a broad range of sages, many of which thrive in the climactic extremes of the Mountain West. |
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