I need a red perennial salvia that blooms long, stand fairly erect
and grows in zone 8..lower zone 8 in hot summers.humid
I do have afternoon shade..there

I have grown autumn sage and furmans well and also grew black and blue
salvia and it grew too well in half day sun..each plant got to 5 foot tall and 6 foot wide
in that flower bed and had to remove it..

I need 3 salvias...and have room for each to be no more than 3 or 4 foot tall and wide when full grown..perennial
I need to order now before the best are sold ..
What company is best for good plants, and packing

I enjoy photographing the red salvia with hummingbirds..


Please help me and also post on salvia and perennial forums for me ..
Thank you so much
sheri/sheridragonfly
Lower zone 8

Hi Sheri, and Happy New Year!

I've had very good success with ordering from Santa Rosa Gardens. The plants have all been beautifully healthy, and very well packaged. I definitely give them a

http://www.santarosagardens.co...

Good luck, and Happy Gardening!

Hi Sheri,
You may want to check this forum out. http://garden.org/forums/view/...
Seems like there is a salvia grower called flowers by the sea, carries just salvias. @Marilyn

thank you both so much!
Sheri

I have this one which grew very easily from seed. It's been growing strong from spring right through now, full sun (except now) & is still blooming.
Salvia (Salvia splendens 'Bonfire')

The right size you want & the hummers adore it. Will reseed itself but they are easy to pull up.

BTW, mine are in a pot & they get 2.5 feet high.

Charleys girl,
thank you also
Are those berries red on that salvia or are they flowers?
Question, does anyone grow Darcyis salvia in a southern state
so I know does it get HUGE ..in width and height..
On the sites it says about 3 foot by 2foot..you know that in the southern
states even the blue black salvia here gets 5 foot by 7 foot wide..
Mine did and they were gorgeous but just overtook the entire 60 foot
flower bed...I had to pull them up and trim and find t hem another home
with a friend..

Anyone grown a Darcyi or Daryci salvia or San Carlos one?

Sheri/sheridragonfly

Those are the blooms Sheri; they don't have berries. My avatar has berries but that is not a salvia.

I recommend 'Hot Lips' and also 'Wild Thing'.

thank you Rita
I had a red lips and loved it
I think the humidity was too much for it
even with afternoon shade
thanks for telling me which you do like
sheri

I did quite well with Hot Lips, too Sheri. Depends upon great drainage, I think. We have lots of humidity, too. I even propagated them from cuttings and planted the new plants all around the garden. Hummers loved them.

Another source for nice salvia plants is Select Seeds and they send very nice plants, well packed.

http://www.selectseeds.com/cgi...

Salvia guaranitica, 2 different salvia microphylla, and Salvia coccinea.

Great for zone 8.
I grow them in both the sand and in the clay.

If you are having problems, I suggest that your previous question about amending the planting holes has more to do with the problem, than the soil.

Try shovel digging the entire bed, dig the compost in the entire bed, rather than individual planting holes. Top dress the entire bed with additional compost after planting the salvias.

I find that salvia microphylla makes a spreading ground cover, rather than staying an individual plant.

Edit:
Thanks for the grammar lesson Danita... have corrected.
Now I need to correct my blog... Not sure why I came up with the wrong word after searching "hot lips salvia"... Usually google is a stickler for presenting correct information...

Beautiful Salvia.

Just a quick note, Stone those two Salvias appear to be microphylla rather than macrophylla. S. macrophylla is a large-leaved species with blue flowers. It's easy to confuse the names but just remember the names translate to:
microphylla= little leaf
macrophylla= large leaf

Sheri, Flowers by the Sea sells an amazing selection of Salvias and their plants are bigger than many mail-order places. They actually take the time to pinch and shape the plants so they look nice too. http://www.fbts.com/

Hi there
Flowers by the sea..Kermit is delightful to talk to
I did contact them...great people..

Thanks for all advice
will reread..
My bed is too big to dig out and redo..by a shovel..
Tried to send a picture on here but it will not download
any pic of mine..and never had a problem downloading on to a site.
thanks
sheri