Can you stare wistfully at the plants for me? ;-)
Rose

Rose and I wanna know if they do mail order!!

Joseph

I love the Cabrillo plant sale!!!! When the list comes out,I start doing my research, checking the available against my Betsy Clebtsh book. I went overboard and got some last year that I didn't know what they would look like, and got a few surprises. It's my mother's day present for me!!

OK, I've got my wish list assembled, and accommodations booked... boy, I don't think all these salvias will fit in my car, LOL. Can anyone comment on the usual pot size that is sold there? I remember wcgypsy saying to bring my own wagon. Any other advice?? Too bad I no longer own a pick-up truck! :)

Maybe take some labels and pen with you 'in case'...I got some there un-labeled before. If you think there may be limited numbers-high demand for the ones you want,you may want to consider going on Friday and paying for membership to get in Friday so the ones you want won't be gone. Depends on how badly you want them...last time I went it was $30 for membership in order to get in Friday afternoon. It was worth it for me since I was getting a lot and goes to the school. Even going in on Friday afternoon there was quite a line waiting for 'opening' and we got there early.

Yes, I will go on Friday, and pay for membership. It's a good cause.

How did you know what the plant was, if it wasn't labeled? You recognized it from the leaves? I got one of those at the Merritt sale, and it's just about to flower... so soon that salvia mystery will be over. I think it may be S. eigii.

Anyway, I'm now wondering if I should put my roof cargo box on the car, haha.

Were most of the salvias gallon sized, or 4", and what was typical pricing? Were all the salvias in one specific area? thanks.

Gallon size and some of the pots in the 'group' were labeled and you see that, but of course, your eye catches a much beter looking plant and you're in a hurry to grab all that you want and you don't notice until you've left that one or two had no labels. Since I'd taken my list of exactly what I was getting, it wasn't too bad by process of elimination to know what the plant in question probably was. As I recall they were priced at $7-, I'd have to look back at records to know for sure.. I saw it as my 'vacation'....If you want to make it your vacation also and have any cash left from the sale...Shadowbrook comes highly recommended....
http://cubits.org/travel/db/worldwiderestaurantr/view/2825/
We had a wonderful breakfast/brunch at the Davenport Roadhouse on Coast Hwy just north of Santa Cruz in Davenport..really good omelet of wild mushrooms, spinach, red onions, etc...great potatoes..really enjoyed it and would love to go back...
http://www.yelp.com/biz/davenport-roadhouse-at-the-cash-store-davenport-2

Thank you so much for the restaurant recommendations!

I had my wish list picked out from their 2009 inventory, and they just posted the 2010 list online. Far fewer salvias this year... especially in the "rare" category. What a shame! Lots of cross-outs on my list. Ah well, should still be a fun weekend.

Yes, I was afraid to look at the list for fear that I would have to succumb to the need to go...but there wasn't enough that I needed to make it worthwhile cost wise for me....which really is just as well.

Gerris2 & Rose:

I wish they did! Cabrillo has to get a special phyto inspection due to the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), and it applies to just the day of the sale. Mail order has the potential to spread LBAM over a much wider area, and the packing would have to be done over a very short time frame. The staff at Cabrillo is overworked, due to budget cuts (it is a state supported institution), so this is not likely.

Fortunately, other sources for these sages are developing. LBAM does not seem to like Salvias, either.

Rich, I'm glad to hear that the LBAM doesn't care for salvia..got a notice last week that they've found one not far from my place and it remains to be seen if, when and where more may be and which areas down here will be quarantined. This on top of med fly...sigh.

I wish I was a little closer...

I'm back from the weekend in Aptos... and the proud owner of nearly 30 more salvia species. :-) I chatted quite a bit with Kathy Navarez; she is very nice. High on my list that I managed to get are:
raymondii subsp. mairanae
spathcea Cerro Alto
hirtella
setulosa
lasiantha (the real one!)
caudata
curviflora
dolomitica
indica
interrupta
glechomaefolia
flocculosa
heldreichiana
microphylla Mija Preferida
glabrescens Pink (also called Momobana?)

and a few others that weren't really on my list, but I grabbed....
mex. Colima
pallida
radula
Savannah Blue (repens X namaensis, Andy Maycen)
taraxacifolia
wagneriana (pink)
Blue Highway (they didn't know the parentage, but it's nice, from Mexico)
leucantha Pink Velour

and a few others that haven't really taken off from seed in my hands.

I didn't have a lot of time in the salvia garden (due to tired son), but it looked really amazing. Nice to see just how big some of these monsters get... the gesneriifloras... wow, huge. I was thrilled to see S. sprucei in bloom. They hadn't propagated it; in fact, many salvias that were sold in 2009 were not propagated this year. There was a triple hybrid that peaked my interest: disjunctaXholwayiXkarwinskii. It looked mostly like S. karwinskii, one of my favorites.

Anyway, that's my report for now. It's salvia heaven there! They will have another sale this winter. And Kathy says that another Salvia Summit is being considered, even with all the budget cuts.

-Michelle

Oh!! Now I'm so sorry I didn't go! Did not know they had leucantha Pink Velour. I have 'Blue Highway' and got it as s.amarissima. I have two interruptas and am keeping them in large pots still. Andy mentioned that he had trouble growing them and if Andy couldn't grow them, I'm going to be super careful with them. At least until I've gotten seeds from them. Glad you got to go and had a good time.....

They also had the leucantha White Velour, but I didn't buy it... I have SO many leucantha (Midnight) plants already. I am wishing that I had bought 2 of the lasiantha, in case I kill it... I will be extra careful. :) What a beauty! I got the very last interrupta, also the last curviflora. They were out of chionophylla. I just checked pictures of S. amarissima, and my (flowering) Blue Highway looks a bit different. Hmm. Kathy said that someone had collected it along a highway in Mexico. Anyway, I am glad that I had a list to keep track of/ check off as I went, so that I wouldn't end up with more than can fit in my car, LOL. There were a few surprises that they hadn't published on their online list... I believe that S. heldreichiana was one of those.

I also got some species fuchsias, and a few other (non salvia) things for my resident hummingbirds. It was indeed fun -- I'm glad that I made a whole weekend of it. Aptos is a cute town, and we had good beach weather. Unfortunately, it's now VERY windy, and I have some broken stems! I'll be potting those up tomorrow... sigh!

btw: the S. raymondii is quite the salvia! Lovely. And I really like S. hirtella; it's cute. We shall see what seeds I can collect from these new plants!

I have heard that the white leucantha is not very interesting anyway. I've been busy with so many things that I've not set up my usual cuttings stuff, but instead have been popping cuttings in water in the kitchen. Yeah, yeah, I know, but it works. Curviflora roots very quickly in water, likewise involucrata, wagneriana, colima, etc.....you're going to love curviflora and colima....wish I could have gotten some of the others you picked up.

The sale will be in a couple of weeks, and they have lots of interesting salvias on the inventory (see link below). High on my wish list will be:

S. sessei
gesner. X madrensis hybrid
"Amistad"
arborescens
carnea
durifolia

And a few more. Kermit, will I see you there?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabrillo sale plant list

Aw, rats! Wish I could go.....

Salvia arborescens is more striking than I first expected. The floral displays are a lot like Catofera chiapensis, a relative of basil found in southern Mexico.

I too lust for the S. gesneriflora x madrensis. Yellow flowers are highly desirable in Salvias.

I suspect S. species Curtis Blue is the same as S. flocculosa. Can anyone confirm this?

Curtis Blue and s. flocculosa are different in leaf, habit and flower. Last year I posted pictures side-by-side of these for comparison. Not a great deal of difference, ad they may indeed be classified as the same species. But visually different.