SUPER SALVIAS -2017

I've found it now. It's a perennial from Mexico /USA . I think I'll keep the cuttings indoors over Winter.

Thanks all.

 

In my honest opinion I think that all you'll have come spring will be weak straggly plants. But worth a punt anyway.

 

Worth trying cuttings KFF.....keep us posted

 

Hi @Verdun - can you recall which agastache is coconut scented please? I'm trying to collect coconut scented plants. Thanks

 

Ok CarolineL, will sniff them all tom ....have a feeling it is kudos yellow but we will see

 

Um, no it's not. I've had the same plant of farinacea for 4 years now. It's more perennial here than S. patens....

 

Interesting. I wonder what it is about the French winter that it "enjoys"? It croaks here at the drop of a hat but even here in the Cotswolds S.patens is hardy, even in the first year from seed.

 

Patens is perennial here noisette.....lots of tender perennials incl aeoniums survive the winter.
Officially, farinacea is an annual I think so you have done well. Just the one plant or others too? Very interesting . Safe to say it USUALLY is an annual in most places!
Very, very mild here.....Tresco Gardens not far away... but 2 forms of farinacea behaved just like annuals here. Gazanias flower all winter here as do many similar plants.

 

Another photo of the tall form of S.coccinea that I'm growing for the first time this year. It shows the extension of the stems between the whorls of flowers that has seen the tallest of these grow to almost a metre in height so far............
Salvia coccinea (tall form) by longk48, on Flickr

 

If I only knew, longk, but have found that most salvias resent the extremes of drought/winter wet and blistering sun/cold miserable winters!
It's a group of three turfed out of a pot into the open garden, Verdun, which I suspect might be the answer. Their roots are still in MPC Pelargoniums, Agaves and Aeoniums survive here too as long as they're not in the disgusting native clay.

 

I've now checked twelve sites/suppliers and found only two companies sell it as an annual ( and both of those only sold seeds not plants ). I think it's a ploy to get you to buy new each year.

I just get fed up with people/companies calling things annuals because they can't be bothered to give them the care they need over Winter.

I've met/talked to a lot of people that believed Fuchsias used for bedding/baskets were annuals, that really got my goat .

@Verdun , I'm surprised at a man of your experience for calling it an annual rather than " a perennial best treated as an annual " , or " a perennial that needs Winter protection " .

 

Interesting info noisette....my own soil is sandy but might try mpc with it and see how farinacea goes then
The beauty of such a forum is how we learn from one another
KFF! I aim to surprise!
However, having grown varieties of farinacea and had better success with so many other salvias I formed the opinion they are annuals.

 

Quite agree, Verdun...you never stop learning about plants! Another example is how many 'half hardy annuals' self sow here (Petunias and Ricinus to name just 2), just as prolifically as 'hardy annuals'.

 

Hehehe, we have a debate
I described it as an annual based on my experience. Obviously location has a bearing on this - here S.involucrata is borderline, S.oxyphora is a no go even next to the house, and S.elegans is borderline. @Verdun would laugh at that where he is.

Anyway, Salvia splendens'Yvonnes Giant' is not so giant this year but instead it is becoming a one metre tall heavily branched plant..................
Salvia splendens'Yvonnes Giant' by longk48, on Flickr

However you look at it it is a massive improvement on those nasty little bedding forms!

 

Sssh longk! I love "debate" .
Of course, you are right. Location but soil too and even a different position in our own gardens can make a difference to how we might describe plants.
Many plants here are perennial in habit but often described as annual up country !
I regard some plants as one season or two season simply because they make better, more floriferous plants as fresh one or two year olds.
Always envious of other locations though longk.....wish I could grow the blue poppy, rhodos and azaleas in the soil, or that we had cold autumns and winters for the bright red, orange, foliage. .
(still prefer being able to grow tender stuff though )