I forgot to ask another question. If I buy seeds of B&B, will they come true?

I cant really answer your first question for Ive not tried to overwinter inside, mine get left in the ground in my zone 6 yard. last year for the first time I had one come back. As far as seeds go any hardcore flower enthusiast or guaranitica grower will tell you that they will not come true from seed. Even if they do look like black and blue they wont be an exact clone of the parent. Only way to do that is by taking cuttings,, but thats another story.

Finally, I was able to transfer my main album from photobucket to another machine.

Here is the picture of the salvia I took at the back of the hotel I stayed last weekend.

{{gwi:431731}}

{{gwi:431732}}

Rich colours of Black and Blue - wonderful.

If from seed is not going to be successful, how do we do cuttings?

I really want this flower, too. I plan to get a few of them next spring. One question I have... do the black & blue blooms fall out each day like the coccineas or are they longer-lasting?

They are good for 2 to 4 days, depending on temperatures and pollination. Salvia flowers go from a male stage through a female stage.

This is a beautiful saliva which I would like to try in my desert medow, but I am concerned how it will do with the dry heat found here in El Paso. Do you think this one would survive? Our winters are rather mild and I usually protect my salvias anyway. Thanks

Do you guys know of any reliable online nursery that I can buy this plant?

Can you also please write down some salvias that are really gorgeous?

Thanks!

elpasogardener:
If you plant it in a shady area you will be much more successful were you can do some occasionaly watering as well. There are some other great salvias you can
put in the "Desert Meadow". What Salvias do you currently
grow? You should have some nice penstemons you can grow also.
Art

Thanks, I have many Salvia Greggi and Microphylla, Theresa (from your Austin Wildflower Center), lutea, hot lips, california sunset (all from Plants Delights), Salvia morado, common reds and pinks (from Walmart), salvia chamaedryoides, May Night. and I have penstermons, firecracker, pine leaf. After about four years, I lost my chamaedryoides from a serious hot spell and was thinking this B+B would be a fine replacement. I could use a late season flower source. I enjoy the rich blue colors best and the hummers love them all. I mix my salvias in with my Lantanas and this year did not even need a hummingbird feeder.

Salvia guaranitica is easy to overwinter in a cool basement. I've been doing it for several years and I've never had one die. I dig them up in the fall, remove most of the soil and pot them in pots with potting soil. I keep them barely moist all winter in the dark. In late winter they start to grow. I move them to an area in the basement that gets a little more light. That is the time I also take cuttings. They root best for me in water. I put them in a south window in my house in jars of water and when there are suffient roots, I pot them up and wait for warm weather so they can be planted outside.
My black and blues set a lot of seed last year which they have never done in the past. Seedlings were germinating all over my garden this spring so I let a lot of them grow to find out if they came true from seed. They all looked similar to black and blue except for one which is a light blue color that is a little darker than Argentine Skies.

Do you have a pic of how a cutting would look like? How long is the cutting? So black and blue does really come true from seed? I was thinking of buying seeds from the internet.

Thanks for sharing the overwintering info. That's phenomenal. Oh, do you have pics of how you did the overwintering of your b&b?

I get new plants each year because I have no room to take cuttings or overwinter the tubers. For the last 2 years I got my plants from a grower on e-bay! They are small rooted cuttings when they arrive but they have all lived and grown very well. They usually start selling them by mid May or so.
Joann

Please tell me the name of the ebay seller. I also would like to know the things that you do when they arrive at your place. Do you soak them in warm or cold water? Do you plant them directly to topsoil/potting mix?

Thanks!

I don't have any pics of the cuttings. I root them in glass jars. They are usually around 6 inches long. I remove the leaves except for the top 4. I like to have 4 leaf nodes in the water.
I wouldn't say that black and blue comes true from seed but most of the plants grown from seed look similar.
I don't have any pics of how I overwinter them either. In the fall I cut off all of the stems, dig them up and remove most of the soil and then pot them using potting soil. I store them in the dark in my unheated basement and keep them barely moist. They begin to grow in late winter so I move them to a brighter location in my basement and that is also the time when I take more cuttings.

Thanks naturelover68. I'm thinking of buying 2 or 3 of them this year and experiment it by placing them in my south/west facing window. I'm just worried that it might wilt too quickly if the plant will be coming from south and then experiences a 40-45 degree temp during the transit.