Cultivating Color |
1. Pantone Pageant: A Chorus Line of Grayed Jade Designer Salvias |
Sage is the common name for the uncommonly beautiful Salvia genus. But when designers describe a product as being sage-colored, they mean a shade of gray-green that they say is soothing and that harmonizes with a multitude of colors, including soft pastels, hot oranges and deep purples. A version of sage called "Grayed Jade 14-6011" is one of the Pantone color-matching system's top shades for the design industry this year. This post identifies some Grayed Jade plants in the Flowers by the Sea collection. They are fine peacemakers amid a Salvia garden based on a mixture of Pantone's top greens for 2013, which you can read about in previous articles from our Pantone Pageant series of designer colors in the landscape. |
Salvias Down South |
2. Salvias Down South: 15 Sages to Pink Up Landscapes |
Winter is a good time for warm thoughts about rosy colors pinking up the landscape. Not only is pink pleasant, but it is soothing. As psychologists discovered in the late 20th century, it's also the color of calm and is used in serenity gardens. Flowers by the Sea details a variety of pink sages here, some of which bloom in winter. |
Xeric Choices |
3. Colorful Salvias Break Myth of Dry Garden Drabness |
Dry gardens are flowerbeds or entire landscapes based on ornamental perennials that require little to no watering once well rooted. Many Salvias are excellent, drought-resistant choices for these gardens. Flowers by the Sea Farm and Online Nursery talks about dry garden myths as well as low-water plants. |
Container Gardening |
4. Container Gardening Basics: Selecting and Arranging Pots |
Assembling a new planter with fresh potting soil and young plants is a feel-good activity similar to moving into a new home. Each pot and property is full of promise. Placing a single plant or a grouping in the right size of pot is like selecting a starter home for it that will encourage healthy growth. The type of material a pot is made from also affects development. Flowers by the Sea Online Salvia Nursery explains how to choose correct pot sizes as well as pot styles, sizes, colors and arrangements. Don't miss The Flowerpot Men music video! |
5. 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. |
Xeric Choices |
6. Praise for Top 10 Lesser-Known Drought-Resistant Salvias |
Eco-vigilantes. That's what some newspapers call smartphone users who post photos and videos tagged droughtshaming on Twitter and other social media documenting careless water use by celebrities, everyday homeowners and businesses, especially in Southern California. |
Sage Experts |
7. Sage Experts: Richard & Bracey Tiede Nurture Salvias & Community |
Love of gardening is partly about love of nurturance. Some gardeners nurture far more than their home landscapes; that's the case with Silicon Valley retirees Richard and Bracey Tiede. Through avid volunteerism in organizations such as the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County, Western Horticultural Society and Pacific Horticulture Society, they are helping to popularize drought-tolerant Salvias and shape sustainable gardening practices in the West -- a part of the country constantly facing drought. |
Sage Words About Wildlife |
8. Sage Words about Wildlife: 4 Seasons of Hummingbird Salvias |
Regional differences in seasonal temperature and humidity affect the choice of Salvias to plant in hummingbird gardens. The varying seasons in which particular sages bloom and the part of the world where they originated also determine whether they attract hummingbirds. Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery offers suggestions based on regions and seasons. |
9. Salvia x jamensis: Painting the Landscape with Pastels |
Planning a flowerbed with pastel bicolored Salvia x jamensis is a bit like organizing a fancy sweet 16 birthday party. It takes finesse and the right guest list of complementary perennials and annuals for fun and harmony. These Salvias are colorful, but not boisterous flowers. |
Butterflies in the Garden |
10. 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 |
11. Salvia Small Talk: Deadheading Evergreen, Woody Salvias |
Deadheading withered blossoms from evergreen, woody Salvia, such as Sacred White Sage, makes them tidy and repeats bloom. You can deadhead them throughout the growing season. |
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