... growing and hybridizing all kinds of plants in zone 6b Maryland since the 1980's.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Savia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

Can't ever get a picture that shows just how cool this salvia is!
I tried putting a piece of white paper behind it thinking that might help, but it still isn't really right.
You'll just have to take my word for it - "in person" it's REALLY nice!
I've grown it here before but it isn't always winter hardy here in zone 6/7 Maryland.
Joseph T. tells me that you can dig the fleshy roots and store them over winter for replanting. I might have to give that a try because (if you couldn't tell) I really like this plant. I was thinking about trying crossing with the red-flowered Salvia roemeriana (which is reliably hardy here - at least against a wall) but I'll have to wait until Salvia roemeriana comes back into bloom. Right now it's got so much seed setting that it's stopped blooming.


3 comments:

  1. Love this sage too. Very unlikely to cross with S. roemeriana, however. I've not been able to get it to cross with ANYTHING, and S. roemeriana (along with lyrata and a couple others) is actually more closely related to the European sages like S. nemorosa than the other new world sages. I've been able to cross it with S. involucrata, and I think there are recorded crosses with S. splendens.

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  2. Just realized my phrasing in that comment was ambiguous... I've not been able to cross S. roemeriana with anything, S. guaranitica, as I said, does cross with some stuff, though it is a pain. 100+ pollinations for one stinking seed.

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  3. Hi Joseph,
    Aha!
    So have you had any other successful Salvia crosses yet? I've tried a few crosses before but haven't even gotten a single seed. I sure hope your "one stinking seed" germinates and grows! I'd love to see hybrids from this species.

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