Germinating various salvias

15 years ago

I will be starting S. jurisicii, S. macrophylla tingo blue, S.hierosolymitana, S. scabra this springhere in texas. I have not grown these before, so I am not familiar with them. Any advise for this lurker. I will also be starting S Englemanii, S. texana,S Farenacea (from Bosque county,Tx), S. Roemeriana, and a mistery blue slvia from Greece. Should I do anythinng special to these seeds, soaking, scarifying, waiting for it to get warm. Normally I do things simply. I plant things in a sterile mix with vermiculite in 4" pots and then I put things outside under a oak tree on a raised plank and I keep things damp.- Mara

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

hybridsage
15 years ago
Wantonamara:
I have never thried to germinate S.Jurisicii before maybe
Someone will jump in who has. S,scabra germinates for me
in fine ground pine bark mixed w/sand when the soil warms up to 70 degree's.I would put texana and engelmanii in the
same mix.The other option is direct sow S.farinacea and
scabra in direct sun raised clay soil.S engelmanii and
texana are going to do well direct sown(sunny location) into gravelly soil.S. roemeriana needs shade sown with Ashe Juniper needles or just under a Ashe Juniper on a rocky hillside. The others I have not grown either.If you want to grow these central Texas natives in pots watch over watering after the first set of true leaves have developed.
I have S.scabra plants to share if nothing happens. They
root from cuttings pretty easy also.S.farinacea is not as picky about watering.
Art
robinmi_gw
15 years ago
I have found that Salvia jurisicii germinates easily in a simple seed compost. A bit slow to get going, but soon takes off.
Related Professionals
Signal Hill Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Williamsburg Landscape Contractors · Wilmington Landscape Contractors · Fort Mill Landscape Contractors · Galveston Landscape Contractors · Longview Landscape Contractors · Marlborough Landscape Contractors · Mission Bend Landscape Contractors · Morrisville Landscape Contractors · Oxon Hill Landscape Contractors · Raytown Landscape Contractors · Palos Heights Landscape Contractors · Baltimore Siding & Exteriors · San Diego Siding & Exteriors · Warwick Siding & Exteriors
rich_dufresne
15 years ago
My current experience with Salvia germination is that you will want to have an air temperature of around 65 degrees F, Even with bottom heat, and my grow light unit enclosed by plywood panels, germination of the seed I got from Robin was a lot slower (started 2 months ago). We just had a few days in the 80s outside and 70s in the room where I germinated the seeds, and there has been both a flush of seedling growth and new seeds. Most of the seeds from Robin are subtropicals. I've been having temperatures in that room from the 40s to the 50s.

We have had 6 spells of lows with temperatures in the teens this winter (2-3 is the norm), and my plants have been especially slow breaking dormancy.
ccroulet
15 years ago
I've been germinating my salvias (i.e., Audibertia) outdoors, starting in mid-January. They've endured temps as low as the mid-30sF (about 2C), and as warm as about 80F (about 27C). Most of our days have been in the 50s & 60s -- it's been a cool winter for us (Temecula, in so.Calif.). In this year's crop, S. eremostachya and S. clevelandii germinated readily, S. munzii and S. sonomensis not at all. This is all wild seed. The last two species were perhaps collected too late for good results. S. eremostachya began to sprout in as little as one week. I wonder if their natural growing conditions (semi-desert mountain slopes) place a premium on quick germination and fast growth. S. clevelandii required 2-3 weeks for first germination.