Pantone Pageant: 15 Designer African Violet Salvias and Companions
Category: Everything Salvias
Posted: May 23, 2013 11:35:00
Purples are cool yet quietly passionate. This includes African Violet 16-3520, a spring 2013 designer color created by the Pantone Corporation. Shades in the blue and purple color range are tranquil and soothing yet commanding, because they calm the garden. If you have a garden bed that is in your face with bright reds, oranges and yellows, one way to cool it down is to add Salvias and companion plants from the blue to purple palatte. Here are 15 choices from our catalog that fashionably match Pantone's African Violet.

New at FBTS: Vermilion Bluffs ® Mexican Sage
Category: New at FBTS
Posted: May 20, 2013 12:03:00
Synopsis: A 'mass of scarlet awesomeness' is one way that Denver Botanic Gardens Senior Curator Panayoti Kelaidis describes Vermilion Bluffs® Mexican Sage (Salvia darcyi 'Pscarl') at his Prairie Break website. Unlike so many Southwestern sages, Vermilion Bluffs is surprisingly cold hardy as well as being drought tolerant. Its common name is taken from the spectacular red bluffs of the Vermillion Basin Wilderness in Northwestern Colorado, an area redolent with the scent of sage on hot days. But the plant is native to the Nuevo Leon area of Mexico's eastern Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. The story of how its parent plant arrived at Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) and, eventually, at Flowers by the Sea is one of diaspora.

Celebrity Salvias: Fuzzy, Fancy Salvia Oxyphora
Category: Celebrity Salvias
Posted: May 15, 2013 12:10:00
Synopsis: A bright, cherry-licorice red, the large, fuzzy blossoms of Salvia oxyphora would make anyone stop and pay attention. Commonly known as Fuzzy Bolivian Sage or Bolivian Spearhead Sage, S. oxyphora has equally unusual foliage that fools the eye. At a distance, the plant’s lance-shaped leaves appear to be a smooth, glassy green. However, they are covered with tiny clear-to-white hairs. They’re also large -- growing up to 5 inches long and 2 inches wide at maturity -- and taper to long, sharp points. It was first collected near Cochabamba, Bolivia, by German botanist Otto Kunst in 1892

Salvia Small Talk: Planting a Therapy Garden
Category: Salvia Small Talk
Posted: May 12, 2013 10:09:00
Synopsis: Salvias are good additions to sensory gardens, because of their fragrance, texture and visual appeal. Plants with sensory appeal stir memory.

Salvia Small Talk: Cooking with Salvia Flowers
Category: Salvia Small Talk
Posted: May 6, 2013 10:47:00
Synopsis: Some kinds of Salvia flowers make good additions to foods ranging from breads to salads. Growing the Salvias yourself is a good way to avoid toxins.

Salvias Down South: Tough Texans that Look Hot
Category: Salvias Down South
Posted: May 5, 2013 14:26:00
Synopsis: A little bit of a hot color warms the garden landscape; a lot sizzles. Salvias that are red, orange, salmon and intensely pink make eyes snap to attention when grown en masse or as highlights complementing cool-colored perennials. Texas is home to a number of tough, drought-resistant species that can make a garden look hot. In this article, Flowers by the Sea focuses on nine to light up southern landscapes.

Plant Safari Salvia in the South African Fynbos -- Part 2
Category: Everything Salvias
Posted: May 1, 2013 10:57:00
Synopsis: Flowers by the Sea is a home away from home for a number of South African Salvias that enjoy our moderate, Mediterranean climate. None are endangered species, but all face the threat of land development in the Western Cape's Fynbos Biome -- unparalleled for its variety of medicinal and ornamental native plants found nowhere else in the world. Preservationists are working to balance changes in land use and to maintain biodiversity in the CFR. Brutal poaching of rhinoceroses is one of the toughest problems they face.

Salvia Small Talk: Annual, Biennial, Perennial
Category: Salvia Small Talk
Posted: Apr 28, 2013 11:02:00
Synopsis: FBTS quickly explains the differences between annual, biennial and perennial Salvias