From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>

Subject: [HUMNET-L] mexican salvia? clerodendrum speciosissimum

To: HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU
From:Rrovansek

Richard,

Clerodendrum speciosissimum is indeed a hummer plant. Some people report that it is a very good hummer plant, other people report only occasional hummer use. You'll find out next summer, when yours should bloom. It will spread and is a large plant, so give it room to expand.

Why anyone would call it Mexican salvia is beyond me. It is sometimes called giant sage, another fairly bad name, but no one so obviously misleading as Mexican salvia or giant salvia. Salvia is a genus of plants not at all closely related to clerodendrums. Both real salvias and clerodendrums (at least some of each genus) are hummer plants, which may be the only connection between the two plants. Salvias are often called sages. Sage is a rather non-specific common name applied a variety of plants including some plants in the genus artemesia, which should probably be called sagebrush, rather than sage. The herb sage is Salvia officinalis. It is not much of a hummer plant, having small flowers.

Ron Rovansek

Huntington Beach, CA

=================================

From: Miriam Davey <athena_9@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] "Giant Salvia"
To: HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU

Humnet:

There was a post a while back about a plant called by some in the green
industry"Giant Salvia", otherwise known correctly, or as correctly as
non-taxonomy specialist botanists can get, Clerodendrum speciosissimum.
To add to Ron's informative post, here's what I know abt it:

Yes, it can show purplish color on the stems, leaves, and
panicles---sometimes quite a lot of purple and bronzy-maroon purple. It's
tropical, and will die back to the ground, or to major stems most winters
here in USDA Zone 8b. It prefers full blazing sun and rich, moist, loose
soil, but will take part shade and is actually pretty drought-tolerant
though the leaves droop and flowering is stunted when too dry too long. It
will not bloom in heavy shade, like that of a Live Oak. I'd say it needs
maybe 4-5 hours sun a day, minimum, to bloom much at all. If happy, it will
make a huge, almost invasive colony. Design-wise, its visual texture is
large, tropical, and somewhat architectural---treat it like a Datura or
large Colocasia (Elephant Ear) or other big arum. It really needs a garden
space of a minimum of 8' square for maximum effect. Here, it's gotten to be
a popular plant to put in a sunny, spacious pool /patio garden. In bloom,
its visual effect is similar to the many familiar garden horticultural
varieties of_Salvia splendens_. In one garden I saw it planted behind this
plant. It was a Big Red Statement hard to beat.

Its attractiveness to hummingbirds is sort of debatable. I think it depends
on a good many factors. In full glorious bloom, a nice colony of this plant
can have hundreds of open blooms at once, and make a huge visual splash of
red color in the garden. I've seen pyramid-shaped bloom panicles probably 2'
high, with many dozens of dazzling red blooms. Maybe bigger. I think that
visual attractant (to hummers as well as people and butterflies) is its
main value as a hum-plant, though it does have nectar and will get carefully
worked over by hums and butterflies. A few yrs ago I found this plant scored
well below 2 others, Malvaviscus drummondii and Salvia coccinea, on numbers
of hum-visits, but even considering it's probably a grade-B, maybe B+ on
hum-visits, there's no telling how many hummers it pulls in to the feeding
area, like a beacon.

MiriamLDavey
BatonRougeLA