Gerris, I have seen your picture of this salvia on Dave's and I am very interested in it. Do you still grow it, and I guess it is in a container for you. Would love to have your opinion, or anybody else growing this one.

Avedon

I haven't grown it, but maybe Kermit, of Flowers By The Sea (who carries it) will chime in about it.

I grew it for one season but it did not survive the winter. I don't think it made flowers but I thought the leaves were groovy.

This should be perfect climate for it in my area and yet I've lost it 3 times....don't think I'll try it again real soon...lol...

Sherry,

That's too bad.

Thanks everybody for the input. I think I could understand losing this one in a colder climate, but I am very surprised that Sherry has lost it three times. I looked up Fallbrook just so I would know where Sherry is , and I also think she would have a good climate for this plant. I wonder about these plants that require good drainage, I think that is where I go wrong, not incorporating enough material so that any water the plant gets drains quickly and does not stand for any time at all.

I grow a lot of salvias and yes, the climate here is excellent, I can grow a large variety...but some things thrive and some things don't and I grow too much to fret over the ones that don't....lol..I tried the corrugata in several spots and still it wanted more attention than it was getting apparently. I have a friend who's a commercial grower and he has a couple of salvias that just don't do well for him despite the fact that they grow well for others...go figure. We've had an even drier year than usual, so I'm continuing to see just how dry a lot of my plants can go and pulling out large beds. It's interesting to see which salvias can take it with hardly any watering....two salvia discolors interplanted with two salvia sagittatas and the discolors are fine, sagittatas couldn't take it.

lol....I'm pretty sure that I will end up trying the corrugata again at some time in the future....

I recall the first time I saw this Salvia, in an abandoned garden in Mendocino blooming like a crazed fool in January. For us it grows into a six foot shrub with the most delightful leaves - glossy green on top and furry brown underneath. The deep blue flowers are nice but not showy. Doesn't matter 'cause the foliage is so fine. Our keys to success: infrequent but deep water, full sun in humid climates and partial shade in dryer spots, good drainage and patience because it is not fast.

Kermit

If I were planted in Mendocino, I would bloom too......

Thanks for your inputs Sherry and Kermit. Good to know.

Thanks, Kermit, for your very good information about Salvia corrugata. I am building up a very long list for next year, and if I can find what I think is a good place for this one, it will be ordered. In fact, I am watching a few areas in one of our gardens and the Orienpet lilies that should be showing now are not doing anything. I will give them some more time, maybe a few more weeks, and then I figure they are goners, and there will be another salvia order placed.

Actually Mendocino can be a fairly harsh place, with bitter and strong prevailing winds and heedless tourists trampling everything. And clay soil that drains poorly.

Love it anyway...made an offer on some property in Albion and Ft. Bragg years ago before ending up in Washington instead.
Like the T-shirt that said...
If it's Tourist Season, can I shoot them.....?

I lived in the Riverside area of CA many years ago, just one year, and I had a terrible time because of the air pollution. We didn't have air conditioning so windows were open and I was subjected to that bad air nearly all the time. However, I do have happy memories of going to San Juan Capistrano to the mission and seeing the flowers there, especially the bougainvillea which I had never heard of, much less seen. I had a friend move to Monterrey, CA for a couple of years, and she hated it there. I was surprised, always thought that was a premier place to live in CA. One person's poison, etc. It really is nice to know the real story about weather from people who live in these places. I have a cousin in Petaluma and I am just now starting to corresponn with here, must ask how the weather is there.

Petaluma weather is wonderful. Many would say that Monterey is cold and damp, the many wonderful things about it make up for that. Even here in SoCal you'll have many overcast days at the coast, with the marine layer, still it's very worth living there. Fallbrook is sub-tropical and we have many days in summer when I'd rather be at the coast with the overcast and all. Actually, I'm good with anything on the coast from here through British Columbia....
The inland areas, like Riverside, do have that smog...it backs up against the mountains and settles in. I spent early years in the San Joaquin and the air there is really bad now.