SUPER SALVIAS -2017

Oxford Blue

 

Lovely, but Cambridge Blue is equally so.......a paler blue and not grown enough. Will post a picture tom.....if the rains allow me to!

 

So...Salvia dolichantha.....got 4 plants from seed, two white and two a nice shade of purple. Scrapped the whites. One of the purples has gone very sickly after flowering. Is this normal? Do they hate drought or too much water? Help! Please

 

In the ground or a pot? How sickly? Post a photo please.
I'd like to have seen a photo of the flowers. especially the white ones. One of my plants threw out some crappy first blooms and was for the bin but before that happened the blooms reverted back to what I was expecting so it lives!

 

They're in the ground. Hot, dry, improved clay. The leaves never were very impressive due to ravenging snails I don't think they're dead (yet) though...hang on, will try to xfer a photo.

 

you can just see the purple flowers near the bottom of the photo. Will try to get a photo of a white one tomorrow..I'm sure there's one still around somewhere...

 

Hi Noisette, what is the name of your red one please ? I like that a lot.

 

They don't like to dry out whilst in growth and they are being mugged over by the surrounding plants.

Looks like Lobelia tupa to me.

 

It probably sensed my deep disappointment and died of shame @KFF Yes, that's Lobelia tupa. Again, a bit disappointed as I was expecting a vibrant red something like Lobelia cardinalis, but at least I won't be grief-stricken if it dies over the winter.
Salvias in general are a big puzzle here. One of my all time favourite sub shrubs is S. officianalis 'Icterina' which grew beautifully for 15+ years in Northants. Over here, it's very short-lived, so a steady supply of replacement cuttings needed. It's a nuisance as they leave a big gap when they give up the ghost. So you reckon that the problem is drought, @longk? I suppose they want the opposite of the conditions here...wet in winter and parched in summer. Tant pis

 

They dislike drying out whilst in growth but they are tolerant of winter wet as long as it is free draining. The small leaves are probably a combination of over dryness and being a little cramped by other plants.
It is my favourite properly hardy Salvia and is quite variable from seed. Here are a few that I've had from seed;
Salvia dolichantha by longk48, on Flickr

Salvia dolichantha by longk48, on Flickr

Salvia dolichantha by longk48, on Flickr

Dare I say it your looks a little weedy You should be after a plant of this size..........
Lobelia tupa by longk48, on Flickr

 

Perhaps a bit of soil improvement would help. The 5 year old Ensete that was nearby must have depleted it quite a bit! Yours certainly looks a better flower colour.

 

As far as L.tupa goes it is a prairie plant in its natural habitat so plenty of sun and free draining soil is what it likes. Ideal bedfellow for most Salvia.

Savia patens this morning...............
Salvia patens by longk48, on Flickr

 

Well I found the corpse of a white Dolichantha this morning....on a hot, dry bank. Meanwhile, doing an autopsy on the purple one, it seems more like crown rot, but perhaps the roots will come back. I suppose it got dripped on by the Lobelia! So we'll just have to assume that Salvias need more care than I've got time to give Having said all that, the S. Black and Blue that @CarolineL sent is thriving in a newly-prepared, uncluttered bed Being watched like a newly-born babe

 

Really odd. Once planted out the only care S.dolichantha is collecting the seeds. How old was the plant?

 

My less than giant S.splendens 'Yvonnes Giant' is looking really good because it is many branched instead of tall and sparsely branched.............
Salvia splendens 'Yvonnes Giant' by longk48, on Flickr

Salvia splendens 'Yvonnes Giant' by longk48, on Flickr