Welcome to Flowers by the Sea, a family run mail-order plant nursery. We've been supplying gardeners with superior plants for over 25 years. Our plants are large, healthy and guaranteed to please.
The genus Salvia is our specialty, and we have the largest selection in the United States. We currently offer 497 species, hybrids and varieties - along with numerous outstanding hummingbird, butterfly and bee plants.
Each and every one has been extensively tested & evaluated before we list them here. We're proud of the quality of what we grow, and Unconditionally Guarantee your complete satisfaction with everything we sell.
Have you used the Salvia Finder? It's the first place to go to find the perfect Salvias. Explore by color, size, exposure, Zone and more. An easy and fun way to plan your garden plantings.
How do you grow Salvias?
Read our Everything Salvias Blog!
Our Everything Salvias Blog offers hundreds of detailed articles about sages. You'll find: how-to articles, interviews with Salvia gardeners and experts, landscape design ideas, plant profiles, stories about cooking with sage, shade gardening suggestions, video tutorials and wildlife habitat advice, including tips for bee, butterfly and hummingbird gardening. Getting Started is one of 18 categories you can click on.
Some of the Getting Started with Salvias topics we cover are . . .
Mr Sage speaks up on Shipping Charges
Dear Mr. Sage,
I'm new to Flowers by the Sea and really like your catalog. But while looking at another online nursery's catalog, I saw that they offer free shipping. But they also charge more than you do for the Salvias I want to buy. Why don't you offer free shipping?
Sincerely,
Careful Shopper
Dear Careful Shopper,
You know what they say about there being no such thing as a free lunch. It's also true that free shipping doesn't exist. We like the New Yorker cartoon published here, because -- pardon the wordplay -- it sums up the myth of free shipping.
Mail order retailers all must find a way to cover the cost of shipping. To paraphrase Shannon Wheeler's cartoon caption, some online nurseries fold the expense of shipping into the cost of they charge for their plants. We don't do that.
Another survival technique is to decrease shipping costs by severely trimming plants to make more fit in small boxes. We don't do that because it harms the quality of plants.
Instead, we created a customized delivery rate schedule with our shipper, UPS. To minimize plant prices for everyone, FBTS shipping fees increase as order size grows and delivery distance from our farm increases. Yet the larger your order is, the smaller our shipping fee is per plant.
FBTS doesn't make money on shipping and tries not to lose it either. "Free shipping" would force us to significantly increase plant prices, because we would never decrease the quality of our plants or delivery system.
We like to think that our solution is a formula for fair pricing.
Thanks so much for your question,
Mr. Sage
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We test every plant before we offer it for sale. Your success is our success. You can be confident that these new introductions are dependable garden plants." - Kermit Carter, General Manager
Change is constant in horticulture. Selecting the best new plants is daunting even in one genus, especially Salvia, which contains about 900 species of true sages worldwide. Our New Arrivals section showcases the latest sages and companions in our online catalog whether new to commercial horticulture or only to our gardens. Please contact us if you have questions or gardening experiences to share about these plants.
Most perennial and woody Salvias thrive when planted in autumn. The season's warm soil speeds root growth unlike the cool soil of early spring. Furthermore, sages put lots of energy into foliage instead of root development in spring. Fall planting allows plants to develop strong root systems that prepare them for the demands of rapid foliar growth and flowering.
You can increase chances of strong root growth by amending soil with lots of organic matter, such as well-rotted compost. This loosens soil so that plant roots gain oxygen, spread more easily and get the moisture they need without being persistently damp. Salvias need good drainage.
Cold-tolerant sages -- such as ones that withstand temperatures in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6 or lower -- are particularly good choices for fall planting in areas with chilly winters. They are particularly tolerant of cooling nights as well as occasional light frosts that may occur before the first hard frost of the changing seasons.
With its decreasing temperatures, autumn is also a time of year when it is more comfortable to work in the garden. For more tips about autumn sage gardening, please read our blog article Fall Planting is Superior for Salvias.
"Many of these are in very short supply, so act fast if you find something you like!" - Vikki Carter, Nursery Manager
Each week, we walk through the nursery with a clipboard in hands, looking for the best we have to offer. All of the plants listed here are "prime", ready to succeed in your garden. In some cases they are just coming into bloom. Or they may be at the perfect stage to transplant. Or the seasonal foliage color may be at its peak.
In any case, the list changes every week, so check back for the latest and greatest from Flowers by the Sea.
Most perennial and woody Salvias thrive when planted in autumn. The season's warm soil speeds root growth unlike the cool soil of early spring. Furthermore, sages put lots of energy into foliage instead of root development in spring. Fall planting allows plants to develop strong root systems that prepare them for the demands of rapid foliar growth and flowering.
You can increase chances of strong root growth by amending soil with lots of organic matter, such as well-rotted compost. This loosens soil so that plant roots gain oxygen, spread more easily and get the moisture they need without being persistently damp. Salvias need good drainage.
Cold-tolerant sages -- such as ones that withstand temperatures in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6 or lower -- are particularly good choices for fall planting in areas with chilly winters. They are particularly tolerant of cooling nights as well as occasional light frosts that may occur before the first hard frost of the changing seasons.
With its decreasing temperatures, autumn is also a time of year when it is more comfortable to work in the garden. For more tips about autumn sage gardening, please read our blog article Fall Planting is Superior for Salvias.
