I do have a few Salvia that are hardy here, I am curious what others grow in my zone, or colder, that over winters or self sows. I have good draining soil, our winters have little snow cover, with multiple freeze thaws, our summers are hot days, cool nights and dry, but I water all my plants on a regular basis. We have a few Hummers here, most are West or East of us in Washington State (I'm in the central semi-desert area of the state) and would like to offer the few who nest here a good food source. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Gale

@GDJCB Flowers by the Sea, an online nursery that specializes in Salvias, has a lot of good information! You can go to their website, fbts.com and actually look up Salvias by zone, as well as by many other categories. They also have many helpful articles and a few good videos I have watched. They also participate in this forum as FBTS. Best wishes!

@jg0613

You beat me to it! Ditto and thanks!

@GDJCB

Welcome to the Agastache and Salvias forum Gale and happy you're here!
Here's the hyperlink to Flowers By The Sea, so can just click onto it. http://www.fbts.com/

Wonderful and very knowledgeable seller. Kermit Carter (aka @FBTS) is the member that owns Flowers By The Sea and is the member Judy was referring to. You'll be very happy getting your salvias (and other plants they sell) from him. That's where I get 99.99% of mine. Lots and lots of salvias on the website! Scroll down a little on the main page of the site and that's where you find all the categories that you can search from. If a plant is out of stock, then it is just temporarily out of stock.

For instance, this one shows it is out of stock, http://www.fbts.com/salvia-dar... but if you scroll down below the price, you'll see that you can click onto where it says "Email me when back in stock" and then you'll see... Enter your email address to receive notification when this plant is back in stock. Below that is where you enter your email address and then, you'll be notified by email when it is back in stock. Since Kermit grows his plants throughout the year, it won't be too long of a wait to find out that its back in stock. If I didn't tell you correctly, then @FBTS will.

Thank you for the info on the web site, looks like a great place to learn and order salvias from.

Thanks again,
Gale

Gale,

You're welcome!

You could try Salvia guaranitica, Salvia Ultra Violet, Cold Hardy Pink to name some from Kermit's place. Don't shortchange Agastaches especially rupestris and any that show in the local market are worth trying. You can probably get away with growing salvias that would be out of zone where you are do to your dryness. You might also consider growing Salvia coccinea from seed. There are newer varieties being offered by I would stick with the older cultivars which tend to be sturdier: Lady in Red and Coral Nymph. You are also in a perfect place to explore western Penstemons.

You may want to check out these two, which are said to do well in similar conditions:

Red Mountain Sage (Salvia darcyi Vermilion Bluffs®)
Sage (Salvia Windwalker® Royal Red)

@GDJCB

Since you say "I'm in the central semi-desert area of the state" (didn't know WA had a semi-desert area before).....

High Country Gardens offers a lot of different plants (Agastaches, Salvias and others) that are drought tolerant, that you might want to check into, as well as, FBTS.com http://www.highcountrygardens....

http://www.highcountrygardens....

Check out all the Agastaches (Hummingbird Mint) that HCG grows and sells.

http://www.highcountrygardens....

I've been ordering from HCG, since spring 2005 and they have some of their own introductions.

One I've been growing in the ground, since then is their Salvia 'Raspberry Delight' (zone 6) http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-x-g...

Salvia Ultra Violet (zone 6) is another HCG intro http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-lyc...

Salvia pachyphylla Blue Flame (zone 5) is another HCG intro that you could grow because of your conditions. http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-pac...

Salvia greggii 'Black Cherry' (zone6) is another HCG intro. You can get it at Flowers By The Sea, since HCG doesn't offer right now. http://www.fbts.com/salvia-gre...

Salvia greggii Furman's Red (zone 6) http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-gre...

Salvia greggii Cold Hardy Pink (zone 5/6) http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-gre...

Salvia greggii 'Wild Thing' (zone 6) http://www.fbts.com/salvia-gre...

Salvia Maraschino (zone 6) http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-x-m...

Salvia reptans (zone 5) http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-rep...

Salvia arizonica Deep Blue (zone 5/6) HCG intro http://www.highcountrygardens.... and http://www.fbts.com/salvia-ari...

Salvia penstemonoides (zone 6) HCG intro http://www.highcountrygardens....

Salvia 'Lady in Red' (coccinea) http://www.fbts.com/salvia-coc...

Salvia coccinea 'Coral Nymph' http://www.fbts.com/salvia-coc...

Salvia coccinea 'Snow Nymph' http://www.fbts.com/salvia-coc...

Besides what was mention in the previous posts and what I've mentioned here, that will get you started. Hope I've been some help.

That's a great list Marilyn

Thanks Ronnie.

@GDJCB,

http://www.fbts.com/

Blue Tag Xeric Plants http://www.fbts.com/blue-tag/ (different zones listed here)

Drought Tolerant http://www.fbts.com/drought-to... (different zones listed here also)

Zone 6 Hardy http://www.fbts.com/zone-6-har...

Zone 5 Hardy http://www.fbts.com/zone-5-har...

Hope this helps.

Thank you again, for all the great suggestions, I am sure to give a few a try. Marilyn, most people think of Western Washington, Seattle area, when thinking of the state, but we are lucky to have several distinct environments in Washington. The Cascades catch most of the moisture coming from the pacific, leaving Central Washington pretty dry. We have lots of sage brush, and even cactus here, luckily we also have one of the largest Irrigation systems in the US here, thanks to the Columbia river.

Thanks again
Gale

Go ZAGS!!!!!