Eric,
It does sound like they sent you a plug for the Kudos. I would complain to the company to get a refund.

Mail order plants should always be put in the shade for at least a few days after unboxing. Remember, they've been in a dark box for several days and need to acclimate to the sunlight again (especially intense Florida sunlight). Then, slowly introduce them to more light.

Placed fourth order at FBTS (shipping week of June 2)

2 Salvia x 'Elk Raspberry Moose'
1 Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red'
1 Salvia coccinea 'Snow Nymph'

Score!

I was looking at the FBTS site tonight, as I do a lot of times and to my delight saw that there were 2 Elk Raspberry Moose available, so I grabbed them right away! I've been wanting that one, since March 3 when I spotted it on the FBTS site!

@Marilyn,
Didn't see your comment/question suggesting S Leucantha Midnight till just now. I guess I thought they were too late blooming for my area? But if you grow it, I probably should be able to. Thanks for the suggestion. Might have to try it.

Also a general comment- I updated my original list rather than adding a new entry. Have ordered more, just decided to do it that way. However should I add any more orders or purchases of plants for this year I will probably list those in a new post.

Here is a tip about mail order plants:

Shipping costs (UPS, FedEx, USPS) are most often based on the volume of the box, not the weight. Large plants cost more to ship than small ones because they require larger boxes. So if the shipping charges are low, it is very often the case that plants are going to be pruned to fit in a small box.

My 2 cents worth.

utahxericman said:

Wanting to try a few Windwalker Royal Red from a different nursery, I have had a difficult time overwintering this variety. I am hoping that getting stock from a different nursery with a more similar growing environment and climate helps me overwinter them.

Windwalkers from whatever source are identical genetically. Will behave identically after a short time settling in. Are you watching the winter/early spring soil moisture? These are slow to return, but if they dry out . . .

Marilyn how large was your Mercedes porterweed from almosteden? I asked about the coral ones a month ago and he told me they were 15 to 24 inches. Those sold out now they have 90 of the reg coral in stock.

@jg0613 Judy,

Here's the database for Midnight.
Salvia (Salvia leucantha 'Midnight')

Looking at my pics shown, I see I've some pics that were taken around mid September, as well as, in October and November. In the many years (every year), Midnight may have started blooming before mid September, but I don't get around to taking pics. This is one of the plants that I planted in the ground and I think it started blooming before the ones in containers. Don't remember when, but it was much earlier than the date shown on the pic.

@FBTS Kermit,

Thank you for the informational tip.

@Miamiu Eric,

That's about the height (15 to 24 inches) of the Mercedes Magic porterweed I received from Almost Eden. I've grown the regular coral ones before, but I wanted to grow the MM variety with the coral flowers. As soon as I saw MM on their website, I decided to pay the extra money and ordered it along with a Lantana plant. MM has been potted up, but no flowers yet.

Hummingbirds loved the flowers of the coral porterweed, so I try and get at least one every year.

Mercedes Magic porterweed is an Almost Eden 2019 introduction.

@jg0613 Judy,

I noticed on your list above that you got salvia 'Margie Griffith'. I'd love to know when it starts blooming for you.

On Kermit's site, https://www.fbts.com/salvia-x-... I saw where he states: "In the far north it may bloom too late to support the fall hummingbird migration. It is at it's best in mild climates with little to no frost.", so I thought that it would be too late in zone 6a for flowers and always pass on it for that reason. I just noticed the height and width. Height is 96+ inches and width is 96+ inches!

I'd forgotten about those numbers, since I figured I couldn't grow it anyway.

I purchased a pink hummingbird mint today that was a good price at a foot and a half tall. Maybe the bees and hummingbirds will like it better than the orange. I think it's the Arizona one since that seems to be what is around here.

Eric,

Once you get hummers in your yard, they'll visit all the flowers that are attractive to them. I'm sure they'll love both the pink and the orange flowers just as much.

Marilyn has any coral Porter weed you had ever gone without blooming for a few days? My coral Porter weed has like 3 one foot flower stalks. and they have not bloomed in 3 days. Prior to me noticing the ants it would bloom a few flowers every day. I noticed ants have invaded its pot. Also yesterday along the flower stalks I notice small crystal looking specks. Do these larger porterweeds get aphids?

My orange agastache was finally visited by a hummingbird today.

Just an FYI Select Seeds is having a sale and I was able to get Salvia Amante for $6! They're not sold out yet if anyone is interested. All their plants are on sale mostly 5-6$!!! I ordered the S. Amante, Nicotiana Alata 'Lime Green', and a Moonflower Vine. They arrived today looking good. 😊

Eric,

Do your porterweed stalks have buds on them? I don't get a lot of flowers during the growing season on each stalk, but the hummingbirds love those flowers so much, that I try and plant at least one every year. "...ever gone without blooming for a few days?" Yes, I think the plants I've grown have.

Take a look at the pics on the website
Red Porterweed (Stachytarpheta mutabilis) and the general listing of porterweed plants with pics
https://garden.org/plants/brow...

Looking at some of the pics, I noticed that others get a lot more flowers on their stalks, so maybe I need to fertilize more.

I've never noticed any small crystal looking specks on the plants. The only time I've noticed any ants (as well as ant eggs) in my containers is when they've sat out for a few years (every day of each year) with potting mix in them, without being used for plants (I had to take all the potting mix out and add new mix before adding plants). They only time I've found ants on my plants is when I grew salvia oxyphora and the ants were on the flowers because of the nectar.

I purchased another coral porter weed online. One thing confused me the label said pink porter weed and that it's grows 2.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. I thought the coral one could grow 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Are there more than one variety of the coral porterweed? Also it has been 10 days and my plants from hirt s are not growing rapidly. The tutti fruitti that has one stem left has not grown any other stems yet. The red kudos does not look to be growing yet. Are agastaches slow growers. They are both in quart sized pots.

Eric,

Did you get all of your plants above at Hirt's, the ones that aren't growing very well?

I'm sorry to hear that your plants aren't doing well.

I don't know of any pink flowered porterweed that grows 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet. Where did you buy that plant at?

I don't know if agastaches are slow growers. If you have a good viable plant that is putting out roots, then it should be growing good, maybe a little slower than other plants, but growing with top growth and roots. Since your plants are in quart pots, they would be slow growers to fill the pot with roots, than if they were in smaller pots.

Here's some links that David Salman (the founder of High Country Gardens) wrote regarding agastaches. Read them to get better informed on growing agastaches. I thought they would help you with agastaches.

https://www.highcountrygardens...

https://www.highcountrygardens...

https://www.highcountrygardens...

The coral one I received in the mail was from accentsforhomeandgarden. The Porter weed I received was about 16 inches tall and they only charge 4.95 for the plant. Shipping 8. Also liked the fact they sent it with a nursery inspection slip.First time experience was ok.

Eric,

I went to the accentsforhomeandgarden.com website to look at their porterweeds. It's the coral porterweed (Stachytarpheta mutabilis). When you look at the flower color, it's coral. They list it that it grows 5 feet tall x 4 feet wide.

I've never ordered from them before, but maybe next spring I'll look at their website and see what they offer.