A peat-based mix with added sand and cocoa hulls sounds good. Ground pine bark breaks down into very fine, silty materials that clog drainage. There are other plant byproducts that will work besides cocoa hulls.

Check with Las Pilitas Nursery or with Ranch Santa Ana Botanical Garden for advice.

Thanks for the suggestions and contacts Rich. Las Pilitas says they won't discuss propogation methods, but Theodore Payne's salvia grower sent me this:
+++
Our soil mix for the seeds is:
3 parts perlite
1 part coco fiber
1/2 part washed sand
About 1 tblspn of a slow release pellet fertilizer

Our seeds are primarily sown into flats, so we make two mixes. One with fertilizer and one without. Two one gallons of soil mix with fertilizer are spread into the flat first and tamped down, then the mix without fertilizer is added on top of that. The size of the seed determines how deep they are planted or how much of the non-fertilized mix you add. The reason the fertilized mix is on the bottom of the flat is so when the seeds germinate and start to put down roots, they will hit the fertilized soil and have nutrition. When to water after germination just depends. Usually every couple of days is enough unless the weather starts to really warm up, then every day. I physically check the flats by lifting one side to see how heavy it is. This gives you an idea of what the existing moisture content is like.