From: ron <ron@NVWETLANDS.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening
for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Large-
winter-root-hardy in zone 8a Salvia
coccinea-Whatcultivar?

Terry, I think your description of the seedlings as
taller than
lady-in-red, flowers with an oranger hue, flowers
more spread out on the
stem (I'm taking liberties with what you wrote),
and reseeding like
wildfire all sound like the single best hummingbird
flower in the world,
salvia coccinia. I have had lady-in-red revert to a
more wild form in a
few generations, and it sounds like yours has too.
Mine were always
grown in the presence of wild forms of salvia
coccinia, so I was never
sure if there was cross-pollination that caused
lady-in-red to revert to
the wild form. I have never noticed reddish leaves
on my plants, but
your description sounds right on otherwise. I have
never noticed
hummingbirds visiting lady-in-red less frequently
or less attentively
than the wild strain. All salvia coccinia are
unreliably root hardy.
Some will croak after a very mild winter, others
will tolerate repeated
freezes and come back. I think they are killed by
some combination of
freezes with warm spells, excessive moisture, or
something else that is
not merely cold temps (which in Louisiana are
never really very cold).
Anyway, they all seed freely, and the seeds will
survive the winter at
least as far north as zone 5. Better yet, take them
inside, keep them
dry in the fridge, and sprinkle then about in the
spring. I have a
really nice stand growing in the ornamental gravel
around my driveway,
where they have germinated much better than an
earlier batch did in
potting soil. They also seem to like to sprout in
sidewalk cracks. This
is a plant you shouldn't be too nice to, I guess. I
do fertilize mine
and water (of course in Nevada, we have to water
since there is no
rain).

By the way, some of my salvia coccinia is droopy
in the morning
regardless of mmoisture conditions. It perks up by
about 9 am, so I
assume this is a natural occurrence, but I don't
know why it happens.

Ron Rovansek
Reno, NV