Magenta Salvias

At 01:47 PM 4/25/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>Thanks to those who gave me salvia suggestions, just in time, for a HUGE
>plant sale I was planning to go to this week-end. Unfortunately I was
>attacked by killer conifer pollen (the count here in Seattle is 2000, when
>100 = "high") and was so head sick that I couldn't even get out of bed for
>the first day of the sale. But I managed to get there for the second day and
>actually found S. involucrata that Liz suggested.  It grows to 5 feet with
>bright pink flowers so I am imagining it will be quite a stage presence.  I
>also bought S. chamaedryoides, which should be a nice contrast with blue
>flowers and silver foliage.  I need to get that salvia book, soon!

Deborah:

Here are some good rose(R)/magenta(M)/fuchsia(F) salvias to consider:

Salvia microphylla forms (these are tougher than greggii forms and handle
humidity better - however, they are much bigger plants):

Wild Watermelon (R) -    My introduction (from the same gene pool as cv.
`Rosita', collected by Don Mahoney high up Cerro Potosi in Nuevo Leon).  A
tough, robust, cold-hardy form with huge flowers that is quite lax 

La Trinidad Pink (R) - A Yucca-Do introduction.  A tough, robust, cold-hardy
form with large flowers with rhizomes, 4 feet tall

Dieciocho de Marzo (M) -  A Yucca-Do introduction.  Tall, dense erect shrub
with many thin, woody stems.  Free bloomer.

San Carlos Festival (F) -  A Yucca-Do introduction.  Medium-high bushy sage
with grat tolerance to wet and dry, cold and hot conditions.  Grows more
like a rose or raspberry, forming wood that explodes in growth at the ends
and the base.

var. neurepia  (M) -  A Yucca-Do introduction.  A tall, fast-growing form
with salmony flowers and aromatic foliage.

Hoja Grande  (M) -  A Yucca-Do introduction. Like the above, but taller and
not as fast growing.

Salvia greggii forms (all but the first two of these are hybrids with
microphylla forms having hybrid vigor and tolerance):

Big Pink: (R) - A Yucca-Do introduction.  An erect, double-sized flowering
form.  Robust grower to 3.5 feet.

Dwarf Pink: (R) - A Yucca-Do introduction.  The smallest of the greggiis,
spreading more than Furman's red, but otherwise similar.  Flowers about 3/4
normal size.

Raspberry Royale (F) -   My introduction.  Hybrid of alba greggii with S.
lemmonii.  Spreads and forms a dense clump with lots of medium-sized
flowers.  Relatively low maintenance.

Dark Dancer (F) - A Nevin Smith introduction. Double-sized flowers like the
above, fewer but thicker stems 

Plum Wine  (R) -   My introduction.  Like Raspberry Royale, but lighter in
color.

Salvia puberula/S. involucrata forms:

S. involucrata cv. `Bethelii' (M) - The old standard and the most erect of
the group.  Large involucre at end of spike.  All of these plants tend to
have burgundy veins and fine dentate teeth on their leaves.

S. involucrata cv. `Hadspen' (M) - Atypical in several ways: the first to
bloom, and flowers will persist a lot longer on stems.  Involucre much
reduced in size and elongated.  Stems not erect, often undulate enough to
touch ground and root.  Of European origin, brought into USA by Wave Hill

S. involucrata x  cv. `Mulberry Jam' (F) -   A Betsy Clebsch introduction.
The most erect, in habit like S. uliginosa or Verbena bonairensis with very
etiolated stems.  Flower looks more like a S. chiapensis with shorter tube
and larger lips.

S. puberula from Hidalgo (M) - Originally distributed by me at UC Berkeley
as S. involucrata before I realized it came from the TYPE locality for the
species.  The species name comes from the hairy leaves on plants soon after
they break dormancy.  Involucrata plants break out with smooth leaves.

Fairly erect, but stems come out at an angle.  The hardiest of these forms
and the second to bloom.

S. puberula cv. `El Butano' (M) -    A Yucca-Do introduction.  Extra large
plants with the largest leaves in this group that stay hairy, late to bloom.

S. puberula cv. from Yucca-Do  (M) - Very similar to Hidalgo form, smaller
involucre of bracts (rosebud)

S. puberula x karwinskii -(Carmine) - a spontaneous hybrid from UC Berkeley
of the Hidalgo form I gave them with their S. karwinskii.  Hairy leaves and
very tall (would you believe 12 feet in one year?)

Salvia buchananii: (F) -  Big (2 inch) furry, showy flower, almost twice the
size of the dark green glossy, tidy foliage.  Forms nice, dense clumps and
is a superb container plant.  Sun or shade, blooms all summer and fall.

Salvia iodantha: (F) -  Three forms available here.  Showiest is the Louis
Saso cultivar (but tenderest and last to bloom) with long, lush spikes,
followed by the Huntington BG strain, with truncated dense spikes topped by
an atypic symmetrical determinate flower, finally the hardiest Soutwest
Native Seed form (blooms earliest and the hardiest strain, but with an open
spike).  All have ornamental foliage that is purple growing in sun.  These
can get 5+ feet tall.

Salvia littae: (F) -  Flowers like half-sized buchananii on spikes like
those of elegans.  Can spread and also grow 5+ feet tall.  Spikes can get 18
inches long.  There are at least two forms, both collected by Dennis
Breedlove and friends.

Note:  Rose and magenta are about the same hue (red to purple to blue, etc)
as fuchsia, but have a higher luminosity (are diluted closer to white than
the pure color at mid-range).  True pink should be the same hue as pure red
(no purple at all) at a higher luminosity.  True red Salvias include
Maraschino, Cherry Chief, Cherry Queen (greggii hybrids), Zaragoza,
deltoid-leaved from Hidalgo (microphylla cultivars), pulchella, miniata,
holwayi, gesneraeflora, oresbia/darcyi/schaffneri.

>From observations made on my collection and their spontaneous hybrids, there
appear to be two different anthocyanin pigments in Salvias, a red one and a
fuchsia one.  These are present at various degrees of concentration in
different parts of flower tissues and hairs.  I believe apparent variations
of hue are caused by variations in pigment concentration and of flower
morphology.  

Odd color forms are usually a sign of hybridization, resulting in two
pigments being present, often distributed differently within the flowers.
For instance, all orange S. greggiis are probably hybrids, as are the
non-true blue section Flocculosae greggii relatives labeled muelleri and
coahuilensis.

Richard F. Dufresne
313 Spur Road
Greensboro, NC  27406
336-674-3105
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