Beautiful!

"blooms a little later than regular mexicanas"
Any later & I doubt I'd ever get to see it. I'm waiting for mexicana lime calyx & hoping to see it before we have a frost. Ironically, my friend(who lives 3 miles away)has had hers blooming like crazy for almost 2 weeks. They're both in full sun. Talk about microclimates!
Rose

Is the regular mexicana hardy for you or does it reseed? I've heard the limelight reseeds in zone 7 . That looks interesting. Sarah

All of my mexicanas are hardy in USDA Zone 7 North Carolina, and most set seed. Salvia gesneraeflora can be hand-pollinated. RT will like moisture and fertilizer and be a vigorous grower.

OK Rich, cut it out. You're making me want stuff I don't have room for. Although once I figure out what stuff may overwinter in my garden, I can maybe reduce what I need to overwinter cuttings from. Or maybe I'll just move to NC.

I am bringing up this post again as I have two raspberry truffles and as of today neither is showing any signs of blooming....they just keep growing taller. One is between 6ft. and 7ft. tall and is towwering over Purple majesty. The other is about 5ft. tall. I took some tip cuttings yesterday to grow over the winter to see if I can bring them into bloom soon next year.

I know that tip cuttings are normally not the best way to go but the tips are bigger around than a pencil. If I had gone further down they would have been the size of a dime or larger.

Penny

Hang in there. Mine just started this week. It is still following selections of S. mexicana (Tula, Limelight, RT, Puerto de la Zorra) in the same sequence as last year. Have you ever bloomed a S. mexicana?

Bloom period is temperature related.

Don't pinch back the cuttings, since the spikes are probably still forming on the tips.

I only took cuttings of one of the Raspberry Truffles. I just couldn't bring myself to do the tallest one. I haven't grow a S. mexicana yet but i am looking forward to seeing the blooms on the Raspberry Truffle. The pics of Helena's are just gorgeous!

Penny

Mine just started blooming. WOW. This may be my new favorite salvia! The color is so nice... you'd think that this salvia would be more widely available!