A few question come to mind. What is the timing of your hummingbirds, do they occur mostly as migrants or do they breed locally? How would you store your plants, in windows, under lights in the basement, or as dormant plants in a cool location? You are a bit far north for the standard perennial and woody shrub salvias to be left in the ground.

You might want to start with something simple like the annual Salvia coccinea. It can be started indoors at tomato starting time and then mass planted.

The standard perennial and woody Salvias grown successfully to about zone 6b are the guarinitica, greggii, microphylla, darcyi and there are others. These can be wintered over in pots in bright light and spring cuttings can be taken to supplement the supply in early spring from fresh growth. You could also set up a garden of semi-tender types, cut them in late fall, tarp the area and cover it with bags of falls leaves or hay bales. You might want to check High Country Gardens web site because they mention other plants that could be useful to you such as Agastache and Zauchneria that fall outside this forum. With work and a little planning you should be able to create the garden you want.

For zone 5, you might try European and Asian species. But be aware that Salvia sclarea, S. pratensis, and especially S. aethiopis may be considered noxious weeds. There are others that are much more manageable.

Some of the Asian ones are quite handsome, like S. dolichantha.

I remember having hummingbirds visit transylvanica when I grew it and it should be hardy for you. It is the only European Sage I have every had hummingbirds visiting fairly regularly and first year plants from seed will flower - a lovely blue.

I have a problem with rabbits eating my s. transylvanica....they also seem to really like s. verbenacea. Do I have unusual rabbits or has anyone else noticed this?

Thank you for the replies!

I am pretty sure our hummingbirds migrate each year. They should start appearing in about April I would say.

I definitly do not want anything that acts like a weed..I need it to be as hastle free as possible do to health issues.

So for the onnes that would be hearty to my zone..were would I find seeds for them?

Mary

wcgypsy:
Have you tried a repellent on the plants to keep
the rabbits away? I know they can be smelly ( to say the least)but they do work.
A place I once worked at had customers w/rabbit problems.
I would say your rabbits are not unusual but finding food
this time of year can be a problem for them.
If the repellent does not work you may have to take more
drastic measures like fencing them off.
Art

I think there is another thread about salvia sources. Hardyplanys.com has a lot of different salvias. Dianeseeds.com has some also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardyplants.com

Thanks, Art. I'm on and acre and a half with a lot of other vegetation for the rabbits to choose from and have salvias planted extensively. Thus far the s.verbenacea and s.transylvanica seem to be the only ones the rabbits go for and I was pretty surprised that they like them. There are a lot of plants that I and the rabbits seem to share a liking for (including my much loved rudbeckias), so rather than trying to use repellants, if there are plants I just have to grow anyway, then they go into half barrels. Disappointed about the verbenacea though, as I like it as a 'filler'.