An ID would be easier with a photograph, indeed.

Joseph

Without seeing it, I'd bet on Salvia Coccinea. While it is an annual where your are, the seeds will overwinter and sprout the next year. When I grew it as a reseeding annual it often didn't bloom until well into July. The general rule with this salvia is to keep it deadheaded. Just about the time that a flower stalk flags there are usually new stalks ready to bloom, and it all can happen within a few days. My own plants have had to be deadheaded numerous times already this summer, and if I keep at it the plants should look good until frost.

And one more thing. If you collect or buy seeds and plant them indoors like you would tomatoes, you can expect blooms in June and much larger plants.

Your right, Robins site is great. We still have ways to go, or at least I do, on what salvias are hardy for zone 6b. If you start experimenting please let us know how it goes. There is also a lot of talk about salvia on the hummingbird forum.

And a photo -- sorry for not posting it yesterday, but days of bad weather -- in today's bright sun, here's our mystery salvia:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1245249}}

Looks like coccinea to me.

I agree it's coccinea. I'll deadhead mine until October (after the Hummingbirds leave!), and let the last few stalks go to seed, as it will sometimes come back for you. Still, it's fairly inexpensive to buy as an annual in the spring, and gets a little more attention from the Hummingbirds than S. splendens does.