Kevin:
There is a Salvia greggii "Sierra Linda",Salvia Chamaedryoides,S.clevelandii,S.dorri var.dorri,
S.leucantha (several forms)and S x Trident
a 3 way hybrid(S. mojavensis x clevelandii x dorri)
from Moutain States Nursery located in Phoenix.
It would seem to me that the local nurseries would buy the plants from them.I don't know what elevation your at, that will effect your growing conditions also.
Art

Thank you for following up, Art! Unfortunately, Mountain States Nursery is out in the far west Valley, where the nights are cooler, and the humidity slightly lower. They also seem to be specializing more and more in plants for higher elevations. I doubt that they are really aware of gardening conditions for those of us trapped in the urban heat island.

Except for the 'Sierra Linda', all of those species comprise nearly the sum total of the ones that "do reasonably well here". 'Sierra Linda' is one of the best S. greggii varieties for here, but it's still not what I would call reliable.

Add S. elegans, S. coccinea, S. splendens, S. x 'Maraschino' (and its kin), and the bedding varieties of S. farinacea to the "reasonably well" list. The wild form of S. farinacea sold by MSN is, in my experience, not very tolerant of hot nights and high humidity.

Like a lot of people around here, I am just looking for "something different"!

Kevin : )

Well I was wondering how some of those california natives
would be doing there. I know this is not a salvia but how
do some of the Penstemons do?The other suggestion
would be one of the Lepechinia(a salvia look a like).
Justicia hold up well in our 100+ degree day's and takes the humidity.But so does some of the ones you have mentioned with some shade of course.
Art

What about Agastaches? I guess these aren't anything new to you. I've seen posts of gardeners growing aurantica, rupestris, and others very successfully. None of these are greggii, and no being able to grow it successfully must be painful.

Im wondering how Ipomopsis aggregata aka[skyrocket] aka[scarlet gilia] would do there as it prefers a dry rocky climate with little to no water. It does well here even though I think it prefers a climate other than what I have and it reseeds like a champ.

Steve

You might try Salvia melissodora and S. keerli, which come from xeric sites. S. chionophylla, S. chaaedryoides, and S. villosa are Chihuahuan desert sages. When it becomes available, S. flocculosa also might work.

Was S. flocculosa formerly known simply as S. "Ecuador"? If so, I saw it in San Diego recently. Is S. keerli available in the U.S.? I've never seen it.

Was S. flocculosa formerly known simply as S. "Ecuador"?

I believe so

If so, I saw it in San Diego recently. Is S. keerli available in the U.S.? I've never seen it.

S. keerli used to be called S. melissodora of Yucca-Do

Wow! Thanks, everybody!

Art, some of the penstemons work here, others only work as winter annuals, and some don't even work that way, because they don't bloom before the heat kills them (a lot of the more common hybrids are like that). I have never seen Lepechinia here in the Valley of the Sun, so I'll give it a try, but I have my doubts. Most of the Justicias do dandy here, generally being more summer-active plants. S. apiana also does reasonably well here, in the right soil--I wonder if its hybrids will work?

Wardda, I try out a new Agastache every year: some have worked well, others get very burned and ragged looking by August. If you want, I'll put together a list.

Steve, I. aggregata is a common wildflower at higher elevations here in Arizona, but it is telling that it never shows up below 3000 ft. The few people that I have known to try it say that it forms a rosette over the winter, then dies just when the flower stalks start to grow. Very frustrating, since it's one of my favorite wildflowers!

Rich, thank you! I'm going to look those up right away, and try them out, as available. By the way, S. chamaedryoides was already on the "do reasonably well" list.

Voodoobrew, I'll also be checking out 'Ecuador'.

Again, thanks everyone!
Kevin : ])

I think Greg Starr of Tucson, AZ is working with the folks at Mountain States Nursery (George Hull in particular) to solve your problem.

How about S regla if given some shade. My greggii take the hot night here in Texas. They are given some shade in the afternoon but they are grown un a unforgiving place otherwise. How about Bee's bliss. and S chionophyla. It will scramble around in a rock garden looking for a pocket of fertile soil. but it will take it rough and hot. I did find that the Greggiis are slow to put their foot down when grown hard but when they do , they will take off. It took three years for mine to do well with my rough treatment, but they were beautiful this year. We had 69 days above 100 and very little rain. Humidity we have. Hot nights we have. I did not irrigate them this summer. They are in the "abuse zone" of my garden. I would experiment with the californian salvias expecially if you have any soils that are rocky.

Thanks wantonamara! I'll check out your suggestions, too.

The difference with our climate is that we usually have about 180 straight days over 100, 30-40 days over 110, and about a week of days over 115! 95+ nights can go on for up to two months. (Psst! The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce doesn't want anyone to know this!) : ])

If a Salvia doesn't "put it's foot down" by late May, after it's planted, it isn't likely to survive the summer--sometimes even if it does!

Grateful it's winter,
Kevin : )

But it a dry heat.

With that kind of heat it might take things more than a couple of months to get acclimated and growing good. Impatience and living and gardening in a dessert are going to lead to unhappiness. I almost threw in my towel on my Gregiis but then they just took off. We are not Phoenix but it is a tough climate. I am always amazed at the columbines that people grow in the NEW MEXICO AND Arizona and I realize it is a big state with very disparate conditions. I always think that it cools down at night out there , but then the heat island of Phoenix grows by the year. I googled Earthed Phoenix and was amazed at the size of the city.

Sixth largest metropolitan area in the USA, and getting bigger!
Even if we leave the poor, sad survivors in the ground, they just get worse every year until they're gone (2-4 years). Very frustrating, essentially forced to use it as a winter annual. Even that is somewhat difficult, since the growers apparently don't make them available to the nurseries until spring--they seem to be forced to grow it in the winter, too!
I used to think that selective breeding would produce more heat tolerant varieties, but MSN has apparently been doing that, to little effect so far.

"I hope that something better comes along."
Kevin : )

Tugbrethil I have had burning problems up here in Redding CA ,but Salvia Hot Lips just kept going and going 2 summers ago when we had 108-117 for 10 straight days with very low humidity. I did keep them well hydrated though, our soil however is totally different from your light sandy stuff, maybe thats the answer.

John

Yeah, 'Hot Lips', and 'Maraschino' are two that do pretty well here as long as they have afternoon shade, fast drainage, and plenty of water. I caught a brief glimpse of a pink variety of apparently the same heritage at a nursery, but it was the last one going out the door, and the guy who sold it to them didn't know what it was.

After the first two times I tried Salvia greggii varieties here, I tried planting them in a sandy raised bed. They did better, but they still were not happy in the summer, and didn't recover well the next winter. Oddly enough, they seem to suffer more as the humidity goes up in the monsoon season, but that's also when we get the hottest nights. I don't know which factor is affecting them more. Since they aren't much bothered in Texas, where there's a lot more humidity than here, I suspect the temps.

Kevin : )

I think that the combination of really high night temperatures, even with modest humidity, will be the major factor.

Have you tried the Huntington form of S. microphylla? This comes from a relatively low elevation of Chiapas, Mexico, near Belize.

Rich, I have tried it. It does better than some, worse than others. From its behavior I suspect it may be too coastal in adaptation--it acts like many cool tropicals act here, or some plants from the islands of Greece. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Kevin : )

Kevin, you might try some of the xeric sages from the Mediterranean like S. argentea and similar plants from the Near East. These are tap rooted, and are best propagated from seed. Those with habits like S. officinalis from these areas also are good bets. You will have to account for the monsoon season effects, though.

Sages from the New World need to have small, gray, hairy leaves, woody stems, and probably will have small, blue to purple flowers. These are usually shrubs from 1 to 6 feet tall and maybe more. Have you tried S. semiatrata?

Rich, thank you!

I tried S. argentea last year, and it didn't like the summer at all! The ones in full sun blew out on the first 105°+ day, and the ones in afternoon and filtered shade survived, but that is all you could say for them, and they gradually petered out as the shade deepened in late fall. The sole present survivor has a grand total of 3 silver-dollar-sized leaves--afternoon shade, but maybe too much water. On your recommendation, I'm going to try it again this fall, on a site with afternoon shade, but sandier, drier soil. Maybe if I treat it like Spanish lavender, hmm?

S. officinalis itself normally vanishes in the monsoon season, here, but I'll have to check out some of the ones you mentioned, just in case. From what I looked up, Newe Ya'ar' (S. officinalis x S. fruticosa)--bred for commercial production in Israel--is a likely candidate.

S. semiatrata looks hopeful too, even though it is a high elevation plant. It almost looks like a hybrid between S. leucantha and S. chamaedryoides, both of which do reasonably well here.

Thanks again, and Happy New Year!!
Kevin *<:>

Hello,

I had a lot of success growing Salvia greggii around Palo Verde trees in landscapes that I managed in the past in the Phoenix metro area. The filtered shade the trees provided helped them to survive over 4 years. I initially picked up this ideas when visiting the Desert Botanical Garden a few years ago. Another tip is to place them in a north-facing exposure which I also had a lot of success with as well.

All my Salvias do better under the filtered shade of a Palo Verde.

My Paloverde is already pretty well occupied with other plants, and my north exposure is apparently just a little too dark--they get etiolated and mildewy. I think that one reason the greggii hybrids related to 'Maraschino' do better here is that they are more shade tolerant than other greggii hybrids.

About where in the Phoenix metro area, azplantlady? East of Hayden/McClintock, west of 43rd Ave., north of Bethany Home, and south of Broadway all seem to be somewhat cooler at night than where I garden.

Doubly glad it's winter!
Kevin : ])