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(Big Swing Sage) With its large, cobalt blue flowers displayed on strong, wiry, branched stems, this eye-catching sage wins the FBTS "best of class" designation for being our top Salvia macrophylla.
(Giant Bolivian Sage) Hailing from Peru and Bolivia, this tender specimen is found at altitudes of 9,000 feet in the wild. This multi-stemmed, woody-based, climbing Salvia needs support. Hummingbirds love its 5-inch-long, crimson flowers, which are the longest grown by any Salvia and flower from late summer through autumn.
(Cayman Island Sage) Compact and intensely fragrant, this shrubby sage is excellent for containers or the edge of a pathway. Small blue and white flowers mass about its densely branched foliage. It loves rich, moist soil and warm weather.
Results for wins from the blog
| Salvia Small Talk |
| 1. Salvia Small Talk: Customized Shipping Charges |
| Flowers by the Sea uses a customized system for shipping charges. Customized fees allow adjustment of shipping prices based on how far away you live from FBTS and how many plants you purchase. This is a more equitable way of covering delivery fees instead of increasing plant prices to cover losses on delivery charges as in a flat-rate system. |
| Cultivating Color |
| 2. True Blue Salvias You Can Rely On for Garden Serenity |
| Forget all the mournful music telling you that blue is the color of sadness. In a Salvia garden filled with hot colors, true blue is a peacemaker -- a reliable harmonizer that commands peace in the garden. This article talks a tiny bit about football, Madonna and the chemistry of true blue flowers. Then it offers a lot of true blue sages for gardens coast to coast from our Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery catalog. |
| Xeric Choices |
| 3. 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. |
| Ask Mr. Sage |
| 4. 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. |
| 5. Fall Planting: Commemorating the HMS Salvia |
| Not long ago, we stumbled on an article about a World War II British naval warship named the HMS Salvia. The name made strange sense to us due to the toughness of the genus. Many Salvias survive, and even thrive, in heat, cold, drought and other difficult conditions. This article ponders how the ship got its name. It is also a commemorative of sorts to those who lose their lives serving their countries. |
| 6. Fall Planting is Superior for Salvias |
| Fall is the best time to plant many Salvias. Read on to find out why . . . This picture, "Autumn", was painted by Giuseppe Arcimboldo in 1573. |
| Sage Experts |
| 7. 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. |
| 8. Sage Experts: Nancy Newfield, Hummingbird Gardener, Part II |
| Salvias are among the best hummingbird flowers and red is tops. That's what hummingbird researcher, Nancy L. Newfield began discovering more than 40 years ago. She found that flower nectar was more attractive than nectar feeders. This is the second article in a 3-part series on Newfield and hummingbird gardening. It includes an excerpt from her book Hummingbird Gardens and an FBTS list of red hummingbird favorites. Bud Hensley photographed the hummingbird pictured here enjoying Salvia subrotunda. |
| 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. |
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