Apologies if this caused nothing but boredom!

Not boring just a subject of ignoring, smile...good info but all I can say, as we love our bunches of Salvia Coccinea, also Antigonon Leptopus ( Coral vine-coral and soon to bloom white, can't wait ) which is considered invasive in FL and other states....bring on invasives! lol

Actually Robin, despite the lack of responses, I think this post will be very useful as a reference down the road, and I appreciate the time you put into it. I think many of us "lay" salvia hobbyists simply can't think of anything original or intelligent to say (or at least perceive ourselves that way) when the experts weigh in. I have basically had minimal to zero luck getting responses when I post to the salvia boards and often feel silly after I post. I do have better luck on the Pacific NW forum here at Gardenweb. The problem is that I have this fascination with salvias, which generate absolutely no interest in this part of the world.

I am growing some of these plants for the first time after purchasing seed from you for this year so we'll see. I can only hope they will be as invasive here (especially stolonifera and blepharophylla), but I doubt it. Zones are pretty misleading but I do think the cold temps for zone 8 or 8B are kind of a threshold for many new world salvias grown in this area, where we don't have the heat units most of them like. Great for people, bad for salvias. By the way, what's that egg-shaped dot in SE England that's so much milder than surrounding areas, why so mild? See link.

The oddest thing to me about your list is the coccinea reseeding, I haven't seen that yet. Did you mean they come back the following year? Thanks, David

Here is a link that might be useful: UK zones

The "egg-shaped dot" is the London metro area, so perhaps as simple as the reflected heat that urban environs create.

Thanks for your responses! (Was thinking I may have upset somebody.....)

Yes, the London area is always a tad warmer.

Coccinea reseeds here, plants are frost-tender, but the seeds are not. But volunteer seedlings do not appear until June as a rule, so will be much later to flower, best to sow seeds earlier in warmth.

Glad that your seeds germinated well.

Robin.

Just didn't seem to need a response from me...lol...
Because we're so dry here, I seldom need to worry about the invasives of any sort....except for the fact that I have so many surprises coming up in my nursery pots. For which I'm actually grateful, easily pulled and potted. Things like apple geranium, verbascum chaixii album, perennial linaria, echiums, nicotianas, centranthus and, yes, subrotunda......

I'm usually the one who kills the conversation.....lol..

Robin, a couple more of seeders for the list:

S. roemeriana..... the parent plant rarely survives outside in winter for me but I always get dozens of seedlings in late spring.

S chrysophylla..... it's first winter with me and this plant has proved to be fully hardy - evergreen too! I now also find several seedlings appearing. Left alone, I would eventually end up with a thicket.

The seedling you gave me last year of S. hypargeia has also come through the winter outside and will soon be showing it's first flowers - I'll then send you a pic. If it seeds anything like chrysophylla then it too, perhaps, should be added to the list.

Jim

In Central Texas on Caliche based soils, Salvia roemeriana, but then again it should be because it is a WILDFLOWER here on my land. It came with the land. The one that is really troublesome for me but I adore is Salvia chiquita. I backed my planting back to a level spot so I can control it. Art does not have this problem where he lives inAustin about 30 miles away. I get Salvia coccinea (wildflower for Texas), and some seed out of Salvia greggii. I wish I would get more seeds from my salvia regla, but It is easy enough to get started in pots. Salvia farenacia is a spreader even in packed roadbase caliche. I don't really have many salvias that made it through our bad drought. The Salvia penstemonoides sends up a few but I start them easily enough.

I know how people get bent out of shape when one brings up the question of invasive species. I think some people feel that you are going to jump out of the computer and attack their garden, stealing their prime shrubs and vines, so they preemptively attack you. The heavy handedness of Big Brother government in controlling what we eat or grow has many people onguard. Conversation becomes difficult. I have been persona nongrata because I brought it up on a forum and people are still slinging underhanded slights in threads that I enter on. If one is a "citizen Scientist" using ones spare time to work on state parks and weed out invasives, you are the enemy. It is weird out there.

Robin

Sorry I dont get over here as often as I like but your info on invasiveness is interesting. Untill I started covering my garden during the winter I couldnt even get salvia guaranitica to over winter but now my blue ensign is several years old maybe 5 and is quite large and now more resembles a 6ft bush. I have black and blues that have grown to resemble bushes using the same technique.

Your mention of salvia darcyi interested me because in a single season It can be quite a show but only for that season and no matter what I do I cant seem to get it wintered over but others with similar climates dont have that problem so I realize it is more a me problem.

I do sometimes get volounteers for coccinea seeds and maybe subrotunda but I usually do some weed tilling early in the season before I realize what I have growing. But I do wish I knew my problem with salvia darcyi.

Re darcyi.........this should be hardy, do you think it may get waterlogged in winter?

It probably has the reproductive structures (layered stems with active nodes) too close to the surface. The plantings I saw on a trip to Galeana, Nuevo Leon with Carl & John of Yucca-Do back in the early 90s were huge, dense, and spread out quite a bit in two cottage gardens in the hills at higher elevations. These were something like USDA Zone 8 arid gardens. It spread somewhat in the sandy loam raised bed in the garden of my former home in Greensboro (zone 7b).