Well, maybe I can send you a chiapensis cutting... mine are rooting! That way, you can kill it again next summer! :o) I am a slave to the watering hose...

Is it over cast down there? I feel like I am in Texas! triple digit heat AND humidity! *sweat* *sweat*

It was cloudy Monday afternoon and then again yesterday. We even had a whole afternoon of light sprinkles. The clouds/rain cooled it down enough so I could get outside and do some needed cleanup. Today, unfortunately, it determined to make up for it.

Yesterday in London (UK) it was 36 degrees (97 F) and it has not rained significantly for over 2 months. In my area we are in a drought situation so we have a hose-pipe ban! So many of my Salvias are not happy, neither am I. Very pleased with S. subrotunda, this is flowering well, and S. omeiana has many buds.

Cheers, Robin.

I was worried that I cut my 'Anthony Parker' back WAY too much, but sure enough, as soon as the triple digits returned, so did Anthony. Bless his BIG heart. :D He's not going to get as much water this year (my mistake last year!), so we'll see how he does once blooming starts.

All of my others are blooming right now, except for the cacaliifolia (haven't seen it bloom yet), clevelandii 'Allen Chickering' (haven't seen this one, either), corrugata, nemorosa 'Caradonna', and officinalis (nope, nothing seen on this one, too!).

So far, none of my small collection seem to mind the heat. Thankfully!

Stay cool, folks!

Brenda

I have heard of this hosepipe ban! I heard that it wasn't actually the drought, but London's antique waterways that are causing that???
Robin, where Westelle lives, oh lord... well, it's not the Death Valley.... but not far off! I try not to visit that town till it drops down below 41º. I sometimes wonder if the inhabitants, like people who live in Phoenix are rather Masochistic.

I'll take Fresno's normal low-humidity HEAT for the midwest's 90s plus 80% humidity any day. If you haven't lived in it, then you have no idea how uncomfortable it can be.

Here in North Carolina, we have been getting 30+ days during the summer with 90+ degrees and 80 to 90% humidity. Most of the rest of the summer is at least 85+ degrees from late May to early October. When I complain to folks in Florida and Houston, Baton Rouge, and other Gulf Coast locations, they just laugh and mention their continuous 90+ degree weather.

If I can figure out how to keep Salvias alive in my heat and humidity, I can help advise others.

Mostly, this is a matter of providing adequate fertilizer and water (but not too much), and the right amount of shade and drainage.

Humus almost always helps, and it pays to have the right sized plant in the right sized pot. Lots of sages like to be near potbound in peat soils. I check the root systems a lot for browning of fine roots and the development of replacement roots.

Here are images of what new roots and replacement roots look like:

{{gwi:1244930}}

{{gwi:1244931}}

Here is the link for the new roots, if you can't get the images in the text:

http://www.eclectasy.com/gallery_of_salvias/Newroots1.jpg

Note the dark brown old roots in contrast to the soil and new roots in the first image. The old ones are nearly useless. If the root ball is wet, all brown and is developing a vegetative putrid odor, the plant is dead.

If there is no odor and the old roots are still firm, there is an outside chance you can get the plant to recover. It will have to go into your plant hospital and you will have to watch water, fertilizer, and shading carefully.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1244930}}

:o) Well, we're having some strange humidity up here in Sac... I can't stand it... good for my hair though. My tropicals are probably happy as clams, but not I! sigh....

It's not just you in Saskatchewan. The northern storm belt seems to be running at higher latitudes this year, including Europe and even central Asia. Check out the Weather Channel international maps every now and then. This change will be interesting to watch as the Artic and Greenland ice continues to melt.

Rich: my problem is: high heat+ dry air+ drying winds. Without LOTS of water the soil here turns to adobe -- rock hard, literally. I'm just getting tired of watering all the time for just one or two plants.

The one that is the surprise is "Anthony Parker" whose doing better than most with little water.

FYI: heathen lives in Sac = Sacramento, CA)

After a lot of bad luck with USPS and over 2 months later, I finally got a shipment of plants from Rich. I did not put them outside because of the heat. The question is: will they survive inside the house for a while until the temperature outside returns to normal? They will not get as much light inside as they would have outside. What do you guys think?

I'd GRADUALLY get them used to outdoors... better than to continually give them less sun...to be shocked worse. I'm doing that to the plants that survived.

whooweee! It's a sauna here! 111º/44ºC. I am so outta here, after watering my salvias twice, I hope they stay alive while I am cooling off somewhere else. I can't take this humidity.... the ole tropics are loving it.

This morning at 5:30am, while out watering some plants in pots, I could have sworn we were in a tropical rain forest due to all of the bird chatter and the extreme humidity. It was 83º at 5am, and the relative humidity made it feel like 89º. All of my Salvias appear normal...so far!

Brenda