Re: Shade garden help/ Russian sage

> does that mean that to try and grow the Salvia and Russian Sage in my
> area is wasted effort, because our weather is very hot and humid,
> sometimes it's hard to breath it's so humid
> Donna   in NE Mississippi   zone 7

It's never a wasted effort in my book! <G>  I grow plants here in south
Texas that the books say cannot survive here for one reason or another.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Marge gave you excellent advice on the Russian Sage, plant in sun in
miserable soil, water enough to establish then leave it alone.  I have poor
sandy soil here and those tried in amended beds did poorly.  I finally
planted one last year in my cactus garden in full sun and it has done much
better.  Will see how it does in it's second year.

You can't get any more humid than we are here with San Antonio being voted
the most sweatiest city in the US by the deodorant manufacturers!  We are
also usually extremely hot from early May through October with 100+ degrees.
I grow over 100 species of Salvia here and have tried twice that many
already.  I will try them 3 times in 3 different locations before giving up
and usually get some nice surprises.

Contrary to popular belief, most Salvia prefer shade or at least afternoon
shade in hot climates.  The felted leafed and rosette varieties are the
hardest to grow here due to needing plenty of air circulation and drier
air..  I managed to grow a huge S. sclerea for over a year by mulching under
the leaves with big rocks.  The rocks held the bottom leaves off the ground
and they dried easier so didn't rot when I watered the bed.  Planted in deep
shade, it even made it over the summer of 2001 which was extremely hot.  I
lost it this past summer when Texas was flooded for a month, just to much
water and no way to dry it out.  In hindsight I should have put an umbrella
over it to keep it drier.

 For Mississippi climate, start out with any thin leafed variety and plant
in shade or part shade.  Dappled shade under trees are ideal.  Right now I
have blooming:  S. iodantha, purpurea, chiapensis, karwinskii, assorted
microphylla, elegans, pratensis, miniata, gesnaeflora, discolor,
guaranitica, Purple Majesty, Indigo Spires, fallax, koyame, splendens Van
Houteii, 4 varieties of mexicana, and more.  All have made it through light
frosts.  All survived the drenching and record wet summer.  Besides sclerea,
the only other one I lost to excessive moisture was S. dorisiana, a velvet
leafed variety.

You might want to join the Salvia list for more information regarding your
climate.  We have several members from the deed south, including MS.
http://www.yahoogroups.com/salvia

Good luck, don't give up!

Linda
Leming TX (south of San Antonio)
zone 8b
heat zone 10

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