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rosewomann_gw

Which Salvias have the biggest spikes or inflorescence?

rosewomann
18 years ago

On another post, Cait1 said of Salvia 'Indigo Spires': "The inflorescence can grow to be as long as 3 feet plus"

Wow! I never saw one that long! ;-)

So, which Salvias have the longest spikes or the widest spikes or generally show up very well cause of the sheer number of flowers?

I can say that S. sclarea has some big spikes which I really enjoyed, but on its second year, I saw millions(OK, I tend to exaggerate)of babies around for several feet- so I shovel pruned it. I plan to grow it again in less prime real estate. It was in the bed right behind my house in full sun & I want the other Salvias to have plenty of room!

Other than that I had a great unknown farinicea- from a plant swap last summer. The entire plant was spikes with very little foliage below- about 2/3 flower to 1/3 foliage. Totally upright so it wasn't "Indigo Spires". About 3-4 feet tall. I don't think it was "Victoria" because my friend has that & it was much shorter. Anyone have a guess? The thing that was so neat about it is that it was never deadheaded & never had dead flowers until the very end of summer. It bloomed from June through frost- pure spikes of dark blue -no spent flowers. I wish I knew which cultivar it was so I could grow it again. I saved some seed but never started it this past summer, not sure if it would come true to seed. I wish I had taken pictures of it.

Rose

Comments (2)

  • rich_dufresne
    18 years ago

    Perhaps your mystery farinacea was Henry Duelberg. Very distinct from most other forms.

    There are quite a few here:

    Salvia confertiflora - long, thin spikes 18 - 24 inches with coral orange button flowers and chocolate stems and calyxes
    Salvia mexicana `Ocampo' - tallest of deep purple mexicanas with 2 - 2.5 foot spikes
    Salvia mexicana `Tula' - humungous spikes usually 2.5 feet long and 4 - 6 inches wide with golden lime calyxes and indigo flowers
    Salvia madrensis - 2.5+ spikes with glossy yellow flowers and calyxes and stems covered with yellow hairs
    Salvia leucantha x rutilans `Anthony Parker' - possibly has the longest spikes (~3 feet)of deepest purple with indigo flowers
    Salvia involucrata Hadspen - about 18 to 24 inch spikes, lax habit, holds a lot more flowers than other puberula and involucrata forms.
    Salvia sessei (Sangre de Toro), Salvia regla `Jame' (Coahuila Mountain Sage), and Salvia regla from Hidalgo - treelike in habit with persistent colored calyxes, heavy weeping bloomers (orange). The Hidalgo form is the most compact and heaviest bloomer.
    S. dombeyi can take a treelike form and the heavy, pendulous blooms are used to drape the arms of the actor playing Jesus Christ in Andean Easter pageants.
    Salvia puberula `El Butano' - fattest spikes of that group
    Salvia karwinskii x puberula - longest spikes of that group
    Salvia guaranitica x `Purple Majesty' and Salvia guaranitica (Costa Rica) - 18+ inch spikes
    Salvia iodantha (Baton Rouge) - heaviest and densest spikes of the known iodanthas and possible relatives and hybrids. Ditto for S. purpurea `Lavender Lace' as compaired with the more commom form from Los Angeles County Arboretum.

  • rosewomann
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Those sound great! I'm taking notes. ;-)
    Can Henry Duelberg be grown from seed? I think the person who gave it to me grew it from seed. It does sound like it when I read the description. It really made me a believer in Salvia farinacea. The problem is that all others look anemic in comparison. You become hard to please when your first is such a perfect specimen. After a whole summer without spent blooms, I was actually surprised to see some in late September. As if the plant would disappear in October at its peak! I wonder if it would stay fresh for a long time as a cut flower. Now that's an idea for another thread! But feel free to chime in here on longest lasting Salvias in a vase...

    Rose

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