Because of its extra-long flower tube and horticultural requirements, I am pretty sure that seeds will be unavailable. There are no hummingbirds with long enough bills to pollinate the plant in North America.

You might find someone who is willing to hand pollinate the flowers from a robust plant, but I doubt there is such a person with a big enough plant and the right conditions.

Does it root from cuttings?
There was a previous post about S.dombeyi so contacting them maybe the way of getting a plant.
art

When robust, it does root well. The problem is maintaining the proper growing conditions, which has been a problem for many.

Dombeyi does not like wet, cold feet in the winter, and hot, humid nights in summer. It responds then by becoming prime food for spider mites.

As a high mountain, equatorial plant, it does not have the dramatic seasonal changes that are found at higher latitudes.

I wonder if my resident Anna's hummingbirds could pollinate it... I've seen them feed from my Bolivian Fuchsia, and the flowers are nearly as long (if not longer!).

I am so disappointed. I *nearly* had S. dombeyi, but it arrived broken from the eBay seller (poorly packed), and I haven't been able to revive it, as the cutting was tiny. He offered to give me another, but hasn't responded to my email saying "yes, please". Sigh.

Probably a very stupid suggestion, but could cutting new flowers in half possibly help? But of course, then the full beauty of the flowers could not be appreciated.

There are no ways I know that will enhance the pollination of a flower by physically modifying it. Doing that will abort the pollination process.

Pollen from another flower has to land at the appropriate spot on the forked stigma, germinate, then form a sperm tube that follows the style all the way back to the unfertilized seeds (achenes, really). Bumblebees abort this process by puncturing the flower at the base to access the nectar. Anything more radical than that should have the same effect.

How does the plant propagate itself in the wild, then? Are you sure that the hummingbirds cannot pollinate it? Below is the fuchsia that I mentioned, that the Anna's hummers enjoy in my yard; note how long it is. They do not go through the calyx on this one (like they do with Abutilon, for example).

Here is a link that might be useful: Fuchsia boliviana

Rich said: There are no hummingbirds with long enough bills to pollinate the plant in North America.

South America (Mexico) has some hummers with longer beaks. In my neighborhood I have Blue-throated and Magnificent hummingbirds. They are the size of sparrows and can take some very cold nights. They are both mountain hummers.

Good bird bad picture.

But many Salvias are self-fertile. This is a complicated area of which I have no knowledge, but find very fascinating. For example...winter-flowering species which have to be kept under glass, and free of frost in the UK...such as roscida, myriantha, corrugata, littae...and others, all set viable seed, albeit hard to find. And there are no "obvious" pollinators.

I think that dombeyi is close to extinction in Bolivia, so this needs to be propagated from cuttings...which are easy. Another beauty is Salvia oxyphora. This is found in remote areas in Bolivia....Professor John Wood saw this growing well in the wild in 2 places, flower colours varied...but he did not find one seed!!! This Salvia spreads from underground runners...It can spread around slightly here, but will often die in winter. John suggested that perhaps this Salvia was pollinated by a now extinct insect or bird, who knows? Whatever...luckily so easy from cuttings, and flowers throughout summer.

Robin.

Thanks for the clarification, desertsage. Wow, what a beautiful bird. Wish I could get some of those in my yard! Though, Sparky (Anna's hummer) is quite beautiful and it looks like he and his new girlfriend are going to stay for winter (still no feeder up!).

I recently saw a Flickr slideshow of someone's trip to Mexico, which showcased salvias in the wild. I'd love to go on such an expedition... My Spanish proficiency is quite good, so that is an asset. Some day, perhaps.

Voodoobrew, I have feeders in winter, because stuff happens.

ha! We don't get much of that by the S.F. bay, but we are having a cold snap (40s/ 50s). I was just in San Diego, where it was beach weather for Thanksgiving. I got some seeds there of salvias I had never seen before.

I guess I should get the junk food feeder up soon, because I don't know if my hummers know what to do with one. I've had a sock feeder up for weeks (seed), and so far the other birds haven't figured it out.

I do have some salvias which are just starting to bloom, but I don't think it will be enough winter food for my little "pets", alas. Next year my winter blooming salvias should be much bigger (I hope!).

The various forms of Salvia x westerae (S. orbignaei x haenkei) that exists in many intermediate forms. The different forms have co-evolved with different hummingbirds favoring different hybrids. Petra Wester did a study of these in Bolivia a few years ago, demonstrating the evolution of the different hybrid races based on the pollinators present.

I think there are a number of South American hummers with really long bills. Nancy Newfield (Casa Calibri) would know.

I assisted on a research project right in my own backyard. It was to find the pollinators of Erythrina flabelliformis or Coralbean plant. Black-chin hummingbird was the likely pollinator. Trouble was E. flabelliformis blooms at the time that hummers are feeding young, which require protein rather than nectar. Of course gnats, spider mites, and other small bugs are taken as food from flowers. When observed side by side hummers would chose Anisacanthus thurberi Desert honeysuckle over E .flabelliformis.
Erythrina are different and get tree size the further south you get, and S.A, hummers with longer beaks may be the main pollinators there. It appears that ants were the primary pollinators in our test plot, so maybe insect pollinators can do the job.

In South Africa, some plants, probably not Salvias, are pollinated by rodents....mice, gerbils, and shrews. Petra Wester is currently studying this.

Hummers are not the only pollinators of deep throated or long tube flowers. Don't forget that many sphinx moths are capable, if not more so, of pollinating flowers such as brugmansias, daturas, nicotianas, etc., with their long, thin proboscis which can measure up to and more than 4" in length. Encouraging these moths in the garden can be beneficial, by planting accordingly, including host plants. Some sphinx moths are day fliers too and are not only attracted to white flowers during the night, e.g., white-lined sphinx. They are commonly referred to as hummingbird moths because of their flight patterns.

Susan

Hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) are the adult phase of hornworms, and can startle people as much as hummingbirds with their rapidly beating wings.

Bumblebee moths (North Carolina) and hummingbird moths (Massachusetts) are their smaller cousins, and they do like Salvias. Their wings are transparent since they have no scales.

Hawk moths is a general term that encompasses many, many genus/speces of sphinx moths. I have raised several by hand, including Tersa xylophanes, Eumorpha achemon, E. pandorus, Manduca sexta, M. quinquemaculata, four-horned or Elm sphinx, Walnut sphinx, Virginia Creeper sphinx, Trumpet Vine sphinx, and the smaller Hemaris diffinus (Snowberry Clearwing) and Amphion floridensis.

The smaller sphinx do not have a long proboscis like the larger one. I think the longest belongs to a tropical sphinx and measures about 10" but there are also a few non-sphinx moths that are capable of pollinating tubular flowers by simply crawling inside of them difficult as that may seem to us, in order to access the nectar.

So planting lots of diverse flowers that attract the moths as well will definitely increase your population of moth pollinators.

Susan

voodoo

Did you give the ebay seller a negative feedback. It is a sellers responsibility to either replace or refund a faulty product or you give a negative feedback and sellers do not want that. There are steps to take and I would certainly take them.

Steve

Steve,

I haven't done that yet... should I email him one more time first, to give him another chance? He is a new seller, so a negative would be a bad hit.

Well, I am happy to say that I bought S. dombeyi today at the Strybing sale, wahoo! They had to "go to the back" to get it. Everything was 50% off, so I also got S. pulcella, karwinskii X pulcella, collinsii, mex. X hispanica Byron Flint, and wagneriana "White Bract".

Some of these are winter bloomers, so Sparky the hummer should be so happy. :)

I think this could be a S. dombeyi pollinator, thanks to a PBS special tonight on hummingbirds (great show!). Appropriately called "Swordbill", the bill is 4 inches long on this Andean hummer:

Here is a link that might be useful: photo

voodoobrew, thanks for the post.

This plant is currently available online from a CA nursery. They will likely sell out quickly.

Here is a link that might be useful: fbts

Be aware that the quarantine for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) is expanding, and this may make shipping of plants outside the quarantine area difficult.

Here is a link that might be useful: CDFA LBAM Project

I have several cuttings of this Salvia ready if it can help...