Tag Archives: Salvias for South Florida

In a Vase on Monday – Sage Advice

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I am joining Cathy and the intrepid vasers again this Monday sharing a Vase of flowers collected from our gardens. To view more vases follow this link to Cathy’s blog RamblingintheGarden.

My vase features all types of sage grown in my garden. My advice – plant some!

It seems to be a very good spring for sage in my garden. I planted some new plants a few weeks ago and they are thriving to the point I need to cut the flowers. The bees were not happy with me, but I emerged, clippers in hand, from the flowers unscathed. The annual sages seemed to have enjoyed the rare freezing temperature we had in February followed by a lot of rain and popped up all over the garden. They are already producing seed. For some reason, they are mostly red.

The close up:

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Sage is, of course, Salvia. This is Salvia with a few wildflower friends, a side of Golden Dewdrop in a mason jar with a dried bromeliad leaf collar. Only in South Florida!

The red spikes are Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea). Blue flowers are Mystic Blue’ Salvia. White spikes are ‘White Flame’ Salvia. White daisies are Bidens alba, cream colored spikes are Juba Bush (Iresine diffusa) These are both wildflowers. Chartreuse foliage is Golden Dewdrop (Duranta erecta). I also have River Sage (Salvia misella) in the garden. This is reportedly a dense mat forming native that grows everywhere and out competes weeds. Bahahaha, need I say more. It is not vaseworthy. More Sage Advice.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting. Happy Gardening.

I will sign off with the fact that it is so dry here I am seriously considering going outside for a rain dance, the sky looks so promising!!

In a Vase on Monday – Mystic Magic

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I have confessed my love for Salvias on more than one occasion. My favorite, Mystic Blue, has been flowering so profusely it needed deadheading. I did not resist, trimmed all the stunningly large flowers and proceeded to vase making.

With all the rain (11″ in a week measured nearby) the White Flame Salvia and Blue Plumbage are also flowering luxuriantly. They were relieved of a bit of the bounty and all was plonked into one of my favorite thrift store finds – the ubiquitous grey pottery vase.

Being from much further north, this still seems like a midsummer vase to me, and here in South Florida it is entirely possible I can recreate this in July. Since it is mid April, I am enjoying it and savoring the beauty as Florida tends to fry things before their time!

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A closer view. This is simply two kinds of salvia and Plumbago. ‘Mystic Blue’ and ‘White Flame’ Salvia and plain Plumbago auriculata and the cultivar P. auriculata ‘Imperial Blue’. The Imperial Blue is closer to hydrangeas in color, I think. Though I like them both. Oddly, the flowers stick to my greyhounds long noses, so I associate them with my dearly departed Charles, who loved sticking his nose in them and always came out covered with blue flowers.

That’s all the blue news from my garden this Monday. To see other gardens and vases visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden.