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| Salvia Specialist Nursery and Holder of an Australian registered OPCA salvia collection. |
| About the Nursery |
| Very few nurseries want to stock a large range of unknown plants because not enough people are adventurous with plants. People say they want unusual plants but it is hard to keep a nursery going from sales of 'different' plants. So you are not likely to get a lot of choice in local nurseries unless a big wholesaler promotes them.
I am happy for you to call in but it is probably best to advise in advance if it may be a long visit. If I home, the nursery is open. A lot of nurseries are selling incorrectly names salvias because not many people know what is what. I recently heard of a South Australian nursery offering Teucrium betonicum as Salvia melissodora. Guaranitica is constantly sold as patens and on and on it goes. So if you want the correctly named plant you are more likely to get it from me. Mexicana lime calyx is sold as Limelight when it should not be if you want to be botanically correct, since I introduced it from seed. One wholesaler changed the name of Marine Blue to chamaedryoides Indigo and because there is a label already available for chamaedryoides Marine Blue is often sold as that, but Marine Blue is a plant about twice the size. There were a lot of new salvias when I went to the US in 1998 only identified by country of origin, no species name, so then I have to make up a common name to begin selling them. As soon as a species name is available I will add that. I have introduced a lot of species to Australia and am always working on more. I also have a separate perennial list which lists about 30 of the commonest salvias as well as hardy perennials. Because I am so busy with salvias my perennials are often not as tidy as I would like them to be. I am offering a booklet, Salvias in Australia, with growing information and identification of about 150 salvias including four photos of groups of salvia photos, at a mailed cost of $7. I am an enthusiast not a botanist and am trying to describe so that people with average experience will understand me. I have a registered OPCA salvia collection. My plants are grown in pots in mushroom compost and potting mix in full sun and usually transfer to other soil better than plants grown in straight potting mix. Basic price is $6. New releases or rarer $7. Plants that burn below zero are usually fast and strong growing plants. They are easy to keep going in frosty areas by taking cuttings late summer. Burns below zero means discolouration of leaves, not to the ground. I do not recommend planting these plants in autumn in frosty areas. Tender plants will often die out quicker in exposed pots than they would in the ground. Plants that get frosted down often have snails eat their new growth so that if not checked the plant could die, so please watch out for that in spring. Salvias by the way are not attractive to well fed rabbits! Height and spread of plants will vary very much depending on your climate. Sub tropical climate will usually mean much larger growing plants for those plants that enjoy that climate. Plants described as shrubs will roughly have one main stem and probably clump. The extremities of my weather are about minus 2 up to around 42C. |
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