I'm thinking they are catching on fast, because they are such good hummingbird plants.

Strever said:i dove in head first and got 2 from flowers by the Sea/Kermit he says are kinda demanding
Salvia africana-lutea 'Kirstenbosch' & Salvia brandegeei

Not really demanding. These are plants that are generally difficult in climates/soils that are different from those in their native habitat. Lots of folks are successful with plants we have designated as Challenging by making special provision for their needs. This article explains this in more detail:

https://www.fbts.com/ask-mr-sa...

Kermit do you all restock the website throughout the summer? I saw a lot of the salvia show sold out.

Marilyn said:

I decided to get Cuphea ignea, since Kermit (of FBTS) states; "...our variety of Firecracker Plant, which is identical to the plant sold as Vermillionaire® by Proven Winners®."

https://www.fbts.com/cuphea-ig...

It is the very same plant. We cannot sell it under that name because of use restrictions of the trademark holder, Proven Winners. It is not a patented variety.

Thank you Kermit.

I saw another mystic spires and like how large it grows in pots and the bees love it. I bought it and also another rock in fuschia because of the bright color.

Here's my Mystic Spires! Found it at Atwood's. I have an Amante coming in from Select Seeds.


You can see my Hot Lips in the left of the pic.
The lighter green one in front of the Hot lips is a native blue salvia.

Nice plant. One thing i will never understand is plant sellers color marketing. I saw a black and bloom and it had a purple picture on the tag. Not the bluish purple. I do know there is a black and bloom with purple flowers. Anyway on the tag it said blue flowers. I will watch it to see if it blooms purple.

Eric, here's a pic of my Black and Blue. As you can see, it's clearly purple. In the plant world, what's often called a "blue bloom" is really purple. Tip; look for the words "true blue".


There are few plants that produce true blue blooms. The ones I know of are delphiniums, larkspurs, forget me nots, some muscari, some hyacinth, borage, echium and a few salvias. Despite the hype, there is no true blue rose.

Flowers By The Sea orders. New shipping date May 17.

First order on April 3: Order #10245

2 Cuphea x 'David Verity'
2 Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red'
1 Salvia leucantha 'Midnight'
1 Salvia x 'Elk Crimson Spires'
1 Salvia 'Amistad'
1 Salvia BODACIOUS 'Rhythm and Blues'
1 Salvia x 'Wendy's Wish'
1 Salvia darcyi x splendens 'Roman Red'
1 Salvia VIBE 'Ignition Fuchsia'

Second order on April 27 or April 29: Order #10509

1 Salvia greggii 'Lipstick'
2 Salvia microphylla 'San Carlos Festival'
1 Cuphea ignea

New and third order placed tonight May 4 (during the overnight here):
Order#10581

1 Salvia coccinea 'Forest Fire'
1 Salvia 'Purple & Bloom'
1 Salvia greggii 'Orange Yucca Do'
1 Salvia x 'Magic Wand'
1 Salvia coccinea 'Brenthurst'

Some of the plants weren't able to ship until May 17, so that became the new shipping date.

Do you plant yours in the ground Marilyn or keep them in pots?

Oooh, wish I had the room for all that! I just planted 4 healthy Brenthurst pink annual salvia. I'm hoping they will reseed themselves. Pretty confident about that because my Lady in Red always does.

gardenfish said:Oooh, wish I had the room for all that! I just planted 4 healthy Brenthurst pink annual salvia. I'm hoping they will reseed themselves. Pretty confident about that because my Lady in Red always does.

I wish I had the budget for all that!

At the moment, I plan to pot them up into containers. I might think about planting a few into the ground.

gardenfish said:Eric, here's a pic of my Black and Blue. As you can see, it's clearly purple. In the plant world, what's often called a "blue bloom" is really purple. Tip; look for the words "true blue".

This doesn't look like Black and Blue to me. Black and Blue is blue, but IMHO not a very good grower.

Look to Salvia patens, s. sagittata, S. cacaliifolia, S. scutellarioides and a few others for a "true blue".

Blackcurrant sage Hot lips are definitely on my list.

My new salvias this year are 'roman red', 'purple and bloom', and 'amante'. I'm looking forward to seeing how each of them perform.

Kermit, that purple tinge in my pic may be due to the I pad. I agree it's more purple than it should be. It was sold to be as Black and Blue, but the plant came from Lowe's , so it could very well be mislabeled. BTW, what does IMHO stand for? I'm kinda slow with these letter names or phrases!
Oh, I think I guessed it. In my humble opinion, right?
Have you seen this mis labeling issue before? ( not in your plants, of course!).

I just purchased a Victoria blue salvia. I'm officially done with the blues lol. I do like seeing which ones the pollinators like the best. Mystic spires is the most visited in the garden. Less interest shown in mysty and playing the blues.

I love the blues, although most of my salvias tend toward purple. The one exception is bog sage, a clear blue that is simply "heavenly".