Judy,

They all look great! What brand of potting mix do you use for pots and containers?

Marilyn,
For potting mix I had used Miracle Gro in the past. I know some people don't like It but it always seemed to work pretty well- the Salvias we had in containers last year did just fine in it. I was wanting to try Promix HP (stands for high porosity, good drainage for plants like Salvias and Agastaches and it is what FBTS uses) but it isn't available locally. Menards had some Promix Ultimate so I bought that and it is what I have potted the first group of seedlings in, but.... It seems to hold moisture too much and gets too compacted so I am not so pleased with it. It is definitely NOT like the HP (I know because I now have my first group of Salvias from FBTS). I actually just re-did a couple in the Promix I bought but I added extra perlite, vermiculite, and chick grit. So I am still experimenting. Maybe I can find another brand locally that would be equal to the Promix HP. Of course I could order it but for potting mix I would rather get it locally when I need it. I would rather find one that does not require me to add extra ingredients to it. I don't mind mixing my own for seed starting but to do it for all the larger growing pots is more work than I want to do. What do you use for your containers?

They look great Judy
I use the promix HP, luckily they have it where I get my chicken feed and it's not expensive.

If you have an Ace Hardware, you may check with them to see if you can do a special order. They don't usually carry it in the store, but, in the past, my local store could order both the regular and HP Promix.

The seedlings look amazing! Good job!

Judy

I've been using Miracle Gro also.

We've a Worm's Way store here close by that we pass by during the week, so I thought I'd get some of the Promix HP, but when I did a search of their store, I was surprised of the prices. I'll just add a bunch of perlite to the Miracle Gro mix instead for porosity.

http://www.wormsway.com/en/pmh...
http://www.wormsway.com/en/pmh...
http://www.wormsway.com/en/pmh...
http://www.wormsway.com/en/pmh...

I don't empty my containers. In the spring, I just take out the top soil and the previous dead plants. I add some Vermont Container Booster that I get from Gardener's Supply and add some fresh potting mix. I use potting mix in the spring to pot up to larger pots from the smaller pots that arrive from mailing places before I plant them into containers or into the ground.

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/o...

Wow, I only pay 27$. I was paying 43 from a hydroponics store a few years ago.
Even the prices online differ quite a bit

I recycle mine as much as I can, but do use fresh for the spring seeds if I start in the house so there are no bugs or fungus of any kind. I had a large pot leftover one year and brought it in the cellar and had a ton flies emerge from it. I kept finding some flying around in the middle of winter, finally figured it out and put some fly tape down there to catch them.

@Danita
We DO have an Ace Hardware locally and I will go ask as soon as I can. Thanks for the tip. And thanks to everyone for the encouragement. This has really been a labor of love. Starting from seed is kind of like raising a child from birth (best analogy I can think of). I love my "adopted" plants just as much (those I have purchased already potted and ready to plant) but it is so interesting watching the process from seed to full grown plant.

Danita said:If you have an Ace Hardware, you may check with them to see if you can do a special order. They don't usually carry it in the store, but, in the past, my local store could order both the regular and HP Promix.

The seedlings look amazing! Good job!

@Danita

Do they charge for the special order? Do you have to order a minimum of bags? How soon do you get the bags after asking them to special order?

I'll have to keep it in mind for our local Ace.

Whether they can order it depends on what their suppliers have in stock. Their wholesale suppliers will vary with location.
I ordered one of the large compressed bales. There was no extra charge and it arrived at the store in a week or two.

@Danita

Thanks for the info! You said you paid around $17 for a bale?!

No, I didn't mention what I paid. It was $40-something a year or two ago.
If it had been $17, I would have stocked up because that would have been a killer deal! No such luck!
It was the 3.8 cf compressed bale that expands to around 7 cf.

I start all my agastaches and almost all my salvias from seed, too. Some salvias I was pleased to plant out in the garden this spring:

Salvia canariensis var candidissima (from seed I saved from the two-year-old Mama plant--also from seed--that didn't make it indoors this past winter)
Salvia chiapensis
Salvia regla
Salvia uliginosa
Salvia pratensis Pink Delight (last year's bloomed for the first time this spring--purple! still pretty)

I had a barrelieri and an argentea, but they damped off.

My seeds all come from trades. I should check out Rolando and Robin. I'm out of many of those seeds, and my S. involucrata seeds never sprouted.

Danita said:No, I didn't mention what I paid. It was $40-something a year or two ago.
If it had been $17, I would have stocked up because that would have been a killer deal! No such luck!
It was the 3.8 cf compressed bale that expands to around 7 cf.

@Danita

So sorry! I remembered reading above a price with a 7 in it and I thought with a 1 in front of the 7. I thought it was you who said it. Turns out it was @luvsgrtdanes Ronnie and stated $27.

I do stuff like that all the time, Marilyn!
I'm jealous of the people that can get Pro-Mix so cheaply from their feed & seed store. Our feed & seed stores are on the pricey side, if they have any gardening supplies at all.

It is a great price! I'm lucky to have found it since I went through 3 bags of it. Only downside for me is it's about a 1/2 hour away, but I need chicken food and bird seed anyway from them so I try and stock up when I can. Even if I include gas it's still a good price.

@lovesblooms
Good for you! If you get pictures of yours, you should add them to the database. I plan to do that, especially the ones I am growing that aren't already in the database.
I highly recommend ordering seeds from Robin and Rolando!! They are a bit more expensive and not a lot of seeds per packet but they have some that are hard or impossible to find from other sources, and almost all that I have sown germinated. Some I subsequently lost but that was due to me being a beginner and things that happened after germination. They are both wonderful with customer service and follow up too, because they both love Salvias. I am definitely going to be purchasing more seeds from each of them for next year.

All of both groups of my seedlings continue to grow - I have had no further losses so far. My first batch are now transitioned outdoors to grow some more before going in their final spots in the garden. A milestone today- 2 of my seed grown S Summer Jewel Lavender plants have the start of their first bloom stalk- very small but there!! The S Guaranitica var Purpurea are developing nice starts of what will be side branches. The S Envy as well. Had I not gotten a late start sowing them, they would likely be ready to be in the ground, but I think they will have enough time to grow fully before the end of this growing season. Most of my S Guaranitica var Violacea have 2 pair of true leaves and are growing well so far. They were started later- a couple are growing similar to what I described in an earlier post as "strange" so maybe it wasn't an error I made with lighting. I am starting to put them outdoors for short periods. The weather hasn't exactly been ideal for the smaller ones as we have had frequent wind/rain/storms.
I still haven't had a chance to get to Ace Hardware to check on the Pro-Mix HP as my mom is still sick and in the hospital. But I certainly am going to check with them. I also might check with our local Earl May Garden Center (almost forgot about them but their prices are usually higher than other places).

great info above thanks all for sharing. I wish I could find the pro mix here but only miracle grow and a local brand, trying both to see how my salvias from FBTS pot up better in before they go in the ground.