Those sound nice, Linda. I've never tried the stock or foxglove. The rest do ok if the rabbits don't eat them to nothing. I put cayenne pepper and garlic around. They really don't like those, so hopefully they'll eat other things.

Good morning everyone in the Southwest,

I am kind of behind on reading these days and like a true gardener I ordered more Salvia which will arrive this week, what was I thinking???? I am cleaning beds and getting ready to compost some areas, so much to do so little energy left by noon. The reason I am in now is I had a couple of loads of laundry that needed my attention. Well off to get into more mischief!

Happy Gardening all!


I love this Salvia and so do the hummingbirds!

I've slowly been falling in love with salvias too. I mostly have them in NM, but will make cuttings and take some to Phoenix too. The hummers do love them, and I love the hummers! We have more of them in NM, but a few come to our yard in Phx.

I grow the Lady in Red variety of Salvia. The hummers love them. They do well here.

I just looked that one up, and it's gorgeous! No wonder the hummers love it!

Good morning Linda and Karen,

I just love the Salvia and the Tecoma for bringing the hummngbirds. The Salvia I grow are Hot Lips, Big Swing, greggi Navajo Rose, greggi Red, Wendy's Wish, Windwalker and La Placita. I am adding greggii Salmon, Black & Blue, Elk Lemon Light, Love and Wishes, Rypara, microphylla Flower Child, Waverly, Purple Majesty and Phyllis Fancy....I told you I did not know what I was thinking...I guess my thought was bring on the hummers! In addition I bought seeds for Salvia coccinea Summer Jewel White, Lavender and Pink.

So many dreams so little space left...lol

Happy Gardening

You meant it when you said you liked Salvias! I only have a Greggii red and pink. I'll definitely look for others now that I know they grow well and hummers love them. The deer and rabbits don't eat them either, at least not much. The rabbits in Phx took a few test bites when I first planted them.

Never knew there were so many varieties of Salvia, Carla.

I didn't either, Linda!

Good morning Karen and Linda,

Salvia are just wonderful for the hummers, and if you put them close to you're resting area you will have fun interactions with them. I have some that come to me when I am hand watering certain areas and shower in my fan sprinkler, caution sometimes they get too close and it feels as if they are going to poke your eye out...lol My only issue is I am running out of space to plant them and I do not have great success in planters because my yard is too hot in the summer. I have a south and west facing space.

I am always pushing the zone and trying other perennials to change the look of the gardens but I try to weed out the ones that just struggle. I have managed to kill quite a few with heat. It seems the only plants that do well in pots are jade and firestick....or I suppose cacti, but I no longer do plants that draw blood! I gave up my roses and bougainvillea for that very reason.

I will grab a picture of my favorite red today and post it for you, it not only blooms like crazy it smells great too! Have a blessed Sunday!

It sounds like you have a great yard, Carla. Mine also faces south and west and it does get hot! We only have a few trees. I wish we'd planted many more way back when. We got our place in 1974, but went overseas in 1978 and it was rented out for almost 30 years.

I've had such a hard time growing things, that we suspect that one of the renters used a permanent ground weed killer. When I dig out a huge hole and plant something, it does ok, but everything directly planted in our soil has died, even things that should be hard to kill like oleanders.

I'll be interested to see your favorite red one. Bet the hummers do love it! Right now our best hummer bush is a ruellia with the smaller flowers. They love that thing.

I have a can cozy that is red, and whenever I use it I have them flying right into my face.

Carla my Hummers play in the spray of my hose as well. Love those little guys! Sometimes they will feed out of the feeder while I am still holding it if I do not get it hung up fast enough for them.

Linda isn't it amazing how trusting they become of us when we are hanging around all the time. Sometimes they get a little to close...lol I was a little scared right after I had eye surgery and they were coming straight for my eyes...

Karen I did not know there was such a thing as a permanent ground clear??? Our home was built on desert scrub and the builder was not required to bring in any top fill. We had no idea until we bought it in 2009. The dirt is horrible and our water table is at 5 to 6' with a lot of salt, it crystallizes and comes to the surface every winter. I have to amend in spring, summer, fall and when I can get out there without sliding around in winter too! The clay becomes slick and falls can happen easily.

Here is my favorite red Salvia, Windwalker Royal Red and one of the best fall blooming Tecoma, Bells of Fire for hummers....

Gorgeous photos. Yes there are quite a few soil sterilizers, or at least there used to be. We had graveled areas, and weeds were always a problem. My husband kept up with them, but others didn't want the bother.

Thanks Karen,

How far down and what is the spread of these sterilizers? Do you think you could amend with composts for a few seasons and find a planting area?

Ours was granite out front and rocks in the back...the rocks are all in the front now and that granite is the worst!!! It makes it very difficult to dig an area for a plant! I have a small yard but I take advantage of every area of dirt...lol I do have a small area of grass for the dogs...and it keeps getting smaller each year.

We started out with lots of grass, and I loved it for it's cool look and feeling, but didn't love the work of mowing. While it was rented our property manager had it all taken out. We don't miss it at all.

We have granite at our place in NM. They sheared off a mountain top to build the home, and so I mostly try raised beds and pots. Digging is almost impossible. My husband needed to make a pier to hold his big telescope in his observatory on the hill. He needed a hole 3 ft in diameter and 6 ft deep. He did it over a period of 6 months, using all sorts of tools. My greenhouse needed 8 piers that went in 3 ft, and that was really difficult too. No more digging in the granite!

The NM property sounds very nice, so you spend summers there and winters here? I had a nice greenhouse in WA, I loved it, here I only use those shelves with the plastic zip covers and the only time I use them is to start seed and if it is a particularly cold winter/spring I use them in the house to start seed and move them outside when appropriate.

So Karen do you do raised beds here too? I have a twin bed bed that I am thinking of taking apart and just using the ground space, it is too hard to keep watered in the summer. I also have a 2' X 4' X 2' raised box that has a 5 year old Jalapeno pepper shrub in it, it even survived our 4 day freeze...my husband will not let me take it out...ugh!!!

Hi Carla, I wish we could spend half the year in one place and half in the other, but our Phx home is 70's and things go wrong with it all the time. It's always water leaks inside or out in the drip systems, appliance breakdowns, AC breakdowns, etc. We go back and forth a lot. A neighbor takes care of the pool when we're away. It's a ton of travel and I'm sick of it, but the Phx place needs too much care to be able to leave it for long periods. The NM place is newer and easier to care for except for having a well system and septic system.

I don't have any raised beds in Phx, but if we did, they'd be on drippers. Everything is on automatic drippers now. That occurred when I was in the hospital and my husband had to do all the hand watering. He couldn't believe what I'd been doing!

Jalapenos do seem very hardy. I had a huge one in the greenhouse but took it out because we don't use them that much. I needed the space for things we do use.

Anyone who gets a greenhouse should get a huge one. I filled mine up in a few days, and now I constantly have to trim and cull plants.

I'm grateful the worst of the heat is over, and it will be nice in Phoenix again.

Hi everyone. I'm behind on my reading and everything else. It's been great to read the posts and catch up. The pictures of the Salvia are gorgeous. I am so jealous that hummers are so close to you. We have a few neighborhood cats, so my little guys are very cautious. I love it when I'm gardening and they don't seem to know I'm there. I am grateful for the cool air these days, too. where do you get your salvia seeds. I was thinking of doing some sowing soon. I winter sowed some Lady in Red with good success last year. Do any of you do any winter sowing?

Hi Bonnie

We are also enjoying the cool weather here in Tucson. It was a brutal summer and I think the hottest fall on record.

I have lots of Hummers, they have nested on a hanging mobile on my patio for the last few years right outside the bedroom sliding doors. It is quite a show!

I do not winter sow, just buy the Lady in Red Salvia in the spring. Let me know how that works for you.