I'm one of those people who has a seed-starting addiction and doesn't buy many plants. Are there any other like-minded folks here? What are you starting this year? Last year? Planning to start? Wanting to locate?

Here are some I've started this year:

Salvia coerulea, descendants of 'Black and Blue' - from @mmolyson - 7 up and looking nice
Salvia greggii, descendants of 'Radio Red' - from @wildflowers - 5 germinated so far
Salvia canescens var. daghestanica - from Cheyenne Botanic Gardens - I sowed the 3 seeds I had; gave up on them; sowed Oenothera coloradensis over the top of them; and now seem to have 2 plants that are probably O. coloradensis and two cotyledon-stage plants that are ???
Salvia cyanescens - from Panayoti Kelaidis to Steve Aegerter to me - 2 germinated so far.
Salvia caespitosa - from Panayoti Kelaidis to Steve Aegerter to me. No germination as yet. It might have special germination needs I haven't discovered.
Salvia azurea - I've had wonky germination on this one in the past and decided I'm not smart enough to tell a viable seed from a non-viable seed In aggravation and desperation, I tried a "sinker-floater" test last month. The results were:

Cumulative sinker germination: 31/33, 93.9%
Cumulative floater germination: 28/55, 50.9%

Agastache aurantiaca will disappear every so often from our yard. The ones I've been growing are descendants of 'Fragrant Carpet,' and I sure missed it last year. I'll try very hard to grow some new ones this year!

I am growing big blue.

Nice! Such handsome foliage. I see it's described as an interspecific cross, Salvia longispicata x farinacea. PanAmerican Seed states the variety doesn't need deadheading. I wonder if that means it's sterile and doesn't set seeds or if it just keeps on blooming regardless. Do you anticipate it'll be perennial for you?

The only salvias I grow from seed are coccinea and subrotunda.

So this thread got me on a salvia seed buying binge. This is wht i will be getting.
Evolution violet and white
Fairy queen
Strata
Victoria blue and white
Lighthouse purple and red
Hot trumpets
Rambo red.

I am ordering from hazzards.

I bet Dan's yard is popular with the hummingbirds!

I keep hearing about people finding goodies from Hazzard's, so I had to go take a peek. Interesting selection!

I also ordered salsa burgundy and salsa purple. Also yvonnes giant. I bought some jiffy seed starting kits with the larger pellets. They tend to work well from my experience.

I enjoy growing Salvia from seeds. You have started an exciting array of plants, Michelle!

It sounds like you're well-acquainted with the addiction Joseph

MrsBinWY said:I'm one of those people who has a seed-starting addiction and doesn't buy many plants. Are there any other like-minded folks here? What are you starting this year? Last year? Planning to start? Wanting to locate?

Here are some I've started this year:

Salvia coerulea, descendants of 'Black and Blue' - from @mmolyson - 7 up and looking nice
Salvia greggii, descendants of 'Radio Red' - from @wildflowers - 5 germinated so far
Salvia canescens var. daghestanica - from Cheyenne Botanic Gardens - I sowed the 3 seeds I had; gave up on them; sowed Oenothera coloradensis over the top of them; and now seem to have 2 plants that are probably O. coloradensis and two cotyledon-stage plants that are ???
Salvia cyanescens - from Panayoti Kelaidis to Steve Aegerter to me - 2 germinated so far.
Salvia caespitosa - from Panayoti Kelaidis to Steve Aegerter to me. No germination as yet. It might have special germination needs I haven't discovered.
Salvia azurea - I've had wonky germination on this one in the past and decided I'm not smart enough to tell a viable seed from a non-viable seed In aggravation and desperation, I tried a "sinker-floater" test last month. The results were:

Cumulative sinker germination: 31/33, 93.9%
Cumulative floater germination: 28/55, 50.9%

Agastache aurantiaca will disappear every so often from our yard. The ones I've been growing are descendants of 'Fragrant Carpet,' and I sure missed it last year. I'll try very hard to grow some new ones this year!

I started Salvia azurea last year from seeds. They grew out nicely and even got blooms in the the first season which was a treat. I hope it comes back this spring.



I also have Salvia penstemonoides growing from seed started last year. I hope to see flowers this year.

Royal Bumble grew nicely from seed. I was able to overwinter a plant for a couple of years. Sadly it died so will try establishing another plant.

I was curious about the species name change from guaranitica to coerulea. When did the change occur?

I look forward to seeing your plants growing this year.

Awesome, MrsBinWY! Sure wish I was as organize as you! I know I'm growing quite a few salvias and agastaches from seed this year. One for sure from you is Salvia officinalis. I'll have to look and see what else...

Another one I'm sure about is Red Lipstick Pink from @Danita because I just took her picture.

Gerris2 said:

I was curious about the species name change from guaranitica to coerulea. When did the change occur?

The accepted name for this species is Salvia guaranitica:

http://legacy.tropicos.org/Nam...

Thanks, Kermit. I hav been hesitant to call it coerulea without knowing the basis for nomenclature change.

Interesting that they (the taxonomists) have now changed the name of S. gauranitica to coerulea. I don't recall which database is used here on garden.org but it's an official site.

It's so confusing to me too. Sometimes the names are changed back and forth!! It was a few years ago that the Tagetes were all lumped together, to later be separated again. There are still incorrect pictures in our database because of that. I guess this might be a topic to bring up on the plant database forum
https://garden.org/forums/view...

The academic community of botanists use Salvia guaranitica. There is no debate there. The garden.org database is wrong, and always has been.

Right or wrong, managers of the plants database use Catalogue of Life for verification of Latin names.

It sounds like you're well-acquainted with the addiction Joseph

Hmmm. Wonder why the weird, days-apart, double-post above happened?

Anyway, lovely S. azurea picture Joseph! It sure was generous of it to bloom the first year for you. The wind doesn't let me get a clear picture, but some of ours put on a nice show last year.


I'm so envious of your S. penstemonoides Your S. greggii, too. I haven't found one that's been reliably hardy for me yet. (Or, maybe I haven't found the right spot in the yard? Maybe if I'd snuggle one up to a big, deep rock?) I'll keep trying. Maybe Christine's 'Radio Red' will be the one

Speaking of Christine, those are some happy-looking babies! I hope your culinary sage does well. The bees sure get a kick out of ours when they're blooming. Did you find your list of the other salvias and agastaches you're growing?

BTW - I forgot to mention that @Danita gifted me back some S. pachyphylla seeds from Alplains, and I'm now the proud parent of a plantlet with four or so leaves.

Oh, and I scored some S. dorrii from NARGS that Panayoti donated. Perhaps I'll sow them this weekend...

Still no germination from S. caespitosa. Has anyone germinated it? Any suggestions? Warmer temp? Period of cold? Scarification? Thank you!

I used one seed starter kit and while putting the seeds I became all confused so I will have to use another seed starter kit.

Ah, darn. I know what you mean! When I'm sowing tomato or pepper seeds, I have to work from the tray of filled pots into a new tray. Otherwise ... well, no telling what I might do

BTW - The Ontario Rock Garden's germination guide (https://onrockgarden.com/index...) suggests a cold period for Salvia caespitosa if seeds don't germinate. They're now chilling in the crisper drawer