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(Jammin Jazz Anise-Scented Sage) Deep chocolate calyxes and stems support the large, hot pink flowers of Salvia BODACIOUS® ‘Jammin’ Jazz’. This new cultivar of Salvia guaranitica has heavily veined, bright green foliage that smells a bit like licorice.

(Mystery Yunnan Sage) Sometimes we come across a beauty that has no name. This lovely species from China's Yunnan province is an excellent example. Aside from lacking scientific and common names, it arrived here as an imported seed with little information about how the plant was discovered.

(Lolly's Mexican Sage) Our variety of Salvia mexicana 'Lolly' is the tall kind growing up to about shoulder height. A shorter form is often called "Lollie Jackson" or "Lolly Jackson." Who or what the mysterious Lolly is remains unclear.

(Giant Spreading California Purple Sage or Giant Spreading California Gray Sage) Looking for a large-scale groundcover? One for poor soil, little-to-no water, howling winds or seriously hot sun? This variety of Salvia leucophylla may be the answer.

(Azure Hybrid Sage) Despite its name, the flowers of this tiny hybrid aren't really blue. They are a light purple. Due to its size, long bloom time, heat tolerance and drought resistance, Salvia x 'Mesa Azure' is a fine groundcover for areas where summers are hot and dry.

(California Purple Sage or California Gray Sage) This California native is commonly known as Purple Sage for its flowers or Gray Sage for its silvery, velvety foliage. Due also to its hardiness, drought tolerance and ability to attract small wildlife, it is a joy in the dry garden.

(Purple Stem Sage) Deep purple stems and cobalt blue flowers with pronounced white beelines and dusky gray calyxes cause this sage to command attention.

(Coahuila Sage) Such a pretty little shrub! Its beet-purple flowers will amaze you from June until autumn frost. Coahuilla Sage is an ideal ground cover or sunny border plant at 24 inches tall and wide. Small, shiny, deep green leaves clothe this densely branched, mounding sage.
(Variegated Japanese Woodland Sage) Irregular white margins surrounding deep green make the triangular leaves of this fine Japanese forest sage lighten the shade. In fall, pale yellow flowers add to the standout effect.
(Salvia officinalis 'Growers Friend') Flavorful and fragrant, ‘Growers Friend’ is a modern European Culinary Sage known for great flavor and easy growing.

(Smokey Jazz Anise-Scented Sage) The dusky black calyxes of Salvia BODACIOUS® ‘Smokey Jazz’ support large flowers shaped like parrot beaks the unique color of boysenberries — a hue between red and purple.

 

(Spreading California Purple Sage or Spreading California Gray Sage) Songbirds love this California native as do honeybees and hummingbirds. This Salvia leucophylla clone was collected in 1982 by Dr. Dale Smith of University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB #82152) at Point Sal near Santa Barbara.

(Japanese Woodland Sage or Shu Wei Cao) This short, lavender-flowered, ornamental sage has purple-to-green foliage. In Asia, this woodland plant has long been an important medicinal herb, used in the treatment of conditions such as diabetes.

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Results for aside from the blog

Butterflies in the Garden
1. Growing Habitat: Three Tough Milkweeds to Help Monarchs
Flowers by the Sea Farm and Online Plant Nursery is serious about wildlife gardening and grows a number of milkweed species considered among the best for supporting Monarch butterflies. Three of the nursery's toughest, loveliest milkweeds are Indian Milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa), Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) and Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Read about the history of milkweeds and the reasons why Monarch butterflies are threatened due to a shortage of these tough yet lovely plants caused by herbicides.  Learn how herbicides and pesticides harm Monarchs and other milkweed-loving pollinators.
2. Paperless Catalog Conserves Resources and Lowers Prices
Don't expect a catalog in your mailbox from Flowers by the Sea, because we have never printed one and refuse to do so. Print catalogs are tree-munching dinosaurs on their way to extinction due to the rapidly changing world of digital technology. Online catalogs are environmentally friendly and save our customers money, because we can keep our plant prices low.
Cultivating Color
3. Cultivating Color: Tracking the Elusive History of Autumn & Mountain Sage Warm Pastel Hybrids -- Part II
Luminous Salvia x jamensis pastel flowers began warming up nursery catalogs in the late 1990s. Their journey from steep Mexican mountains to American and European gardens began in the mid-19th century with the discovery of Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii). This is the second post in a two-part article about these Jame Sage hybrids of Autumn and Mountain Sage (S. microphylla). It includes descriptions of ten favorite Jame Sages.
4. Guide to Understanding & Using Fertilizer
Identifying the kind of fertilizer your flowers need can be a trial-and-error experience. This is especially true if you are growing plants that don’t thrive in fertile soils like loam.  Flowers by the Sea Online Nursery hopes to clear up some of the confusion in this Guide to Understanding and Using Fertilizer .
Hummingbirds in the Garden
5. Bat-Faced Beauty: Gardeners & Hummingbirds Love Cuphea schumannii
Most bat faces only look beautiful to their mothers. However bat-faced Cuphea schumannii seems pretty as punch to hummingbirds in search of a sweet drink of nectar. If you take a close look at the ragged, open end of each flower, you'll see two, tiny, lavender petals standing straight up like bat or mouse ears. So, despite its common name, Orange Cigar Plant, this species is known as a bat-faced Cuphea. Aside from being excellent for attracting pollinators, Cupheas are becoming important agricultural crops that reduce pesticide use.
Celebrity Salvias
6. Channel Island Sages
Flowers by the Sea grows a number of native California sages, including threatened species such as the woody perennial shrubs Santa Rosa Island Sage ( Salvia brandegeei ) and Island Pitcher Sage ( Lepechinia fragrans ). Elusive is one adjective to attach to both plants, because they are rare in their native Channel Islands homelands off the coast of Southern California where they are endangered.
Xeric Choices
7. Xeric Choices: 5 Must-Have Native Salvias for Southern California
Native plants are the best ones for local conditions. But sometimes boundaries designating what is native may be artificial. Here are five outstanding Xeric Salvias for Southern California, including one, not far over the Baja border, that offers intense drought resistance and violet-blue flowers.
Quick Digs
8. Quick Digs: Prepping and Overwintering in Salvia Gardens
In autumn, even while the days are bright and balmy, you may be wondering how to help favorite Salvias survive local winter temperatures and freeze-thaw cycles. Although we can't offer you foolproof solutions, we provide ideas in this first article of our Quick Digs series on winter mulching Salvias and overwintering them both outside and indoors.
9. Plant Safari Salvia in the South African Fynbos -- Part 1
Twenty-six species of Salvia are native to South Africa and of these, 10 grow nowhere else in the world. Salvias play an important role in providing habitat and food for wildlife as well as brightening the semi-arid landscape in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Some are used in cooking or provide material for herbal remedies used in the alternative medicines taken by many South Africans. Flowers by the Sea grows a number of tough yet lovely South African Salvias.
Portraits in Gardening
10. Portraits in Gardening: Michael and Kathi Rock's Hummingbird Journey
A wedding gift led to Kathi Johnson Rock and Michael Rock's passion for hummingbirds. These Wisconsin birders offer tips and plant suggestions for hummingbird gardeners at FBTS. Although now known as Madison's "Hummingbird People," the Rocks aren't ornithologists or biologists. They are home gardeners and customers of Flowers by the Sea. This article includes a list of favorite hummingbird plants found in the Rocks' gardens.
Getting Started with Salvias
11. Getting Started: Types of Salvias for Zone 7
Winter temperatures can seem moderate, then dip to freezing in USDA Hardiness Zone 7, which covers a broad range of locations from Washington State to Washington, D.C. To succeed, Salvia perennials and shrubs need to tolerate temperature shifts and local growing conditions. Learn more at Flowers by the Sea, an online, mail-order Salvia nursery.
Salvias Down South
12. Salvias Down South: Texas Butterfly Favorites
Wildscaping is a way to landscape to attract pollinators. Butterflies are one of the most important. In Texas there are 463 species. Steering some of this herd of Lepidoptera toward your yard is easier if you know what butterflies frequent your region and which plants they favor for nectar and for laying their eggs, including Salvias. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Flowers by the Sea all can help Southwestern butterfly gardeners.