78 Great Northern Hwy, Midland, WA, 6056               Ph: (08) 9250 3682               Shop Hours:   10am   >>   6pm

SHOP

DATABASE

JOURNAL

RED FLOWERED

Postage : Seeds only $4 / Plants $20

Page
<123
of 3
  • Salvia

    (Sage)
    Lamiaceae

    A genus whose popularity has risen exponentially in recent times. Offering a diverse range of form and colour there is a Salvia for nearly every garden situation with more and more being discovered and described all the time. The count now stands somewhere in excess of 1000, including subspecies, according to The Plant List. They are found on every continent except Antarctica.

    From a gardeners perspective they can not all be treated the same, they come from many different climates after all, but as a rule of thumb can be grouped into winter rainfall and summer rainfall species and with few exceptions they all prefer well drained soil.

    Soft leaved species from Central and South America are usually autumn and winter flowering. Coming from summer rainfall areas they typically need protection from dry heat and the accompanying high light intensity and they vary in their tolerance of winter damp. As with most plants the larger the leaves the more water they require, this also dictates how fast they grow with many growing several metres in a single season.

    Species from south western North America, South Africa, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands are all winter growers and are tolerant or demanding of dry heat and summer drought. Slower growing but usually longer lived these all tend to have small, densely haired, silver or grey leaves or a combination of these traits which help them conserve moisture. Most of these require no additional water in Perth and are well adapted to our climate. They tend tend to flower from spring into summer.


    Prune back to where vigorous new basal growth is seen, never to dead wood, they appear to store little food in their stems and without leaves stand a chance of starving to death or at least struggle to regenerate. The exception is those few that are tuberous or clump forming, these can be cut to ground level once the stems start dying back in late autumn.
    • ‘Hot Lips’   CAG01560
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

    • ‘Navajo Bright Red’   CAG01585
      Salvia ‘Navajo Bright Red’
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      One of the few cultivars derived from Central American species that performs well in our warm mediterranean climate, capable of coming through a summer unscathed even without irrigation as well as handling our wet winters in any reasonably well drained soil. Numerous 1cm bright cerise-red flowers from dark calyxes are carried on short stems above a low mounding shrub well clothed in small, soft, rounded, fresh green leaves.

      Its form, foliage and complimentary colour lend it to the footing of bare stemmed roses or filling between bolder foliaged plants like Euphorbia and Echium.

      A few drinks over summer and an occasional light trim will keep it looking fresh for years. Flowers predominantly in the warmer months but there are still enough flowers during winter for the birds to fight over.

      A S. microphylla selection or possible hybrid.

  • Swainsona
  • Tropaeolum
    • tricolor   CAG02341
      Tropaeolum tricolor
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      The hair-like stems of this tuberous, Chilean climber, clamber their way through and over shrubs or other surrounding vegetation. Clasping it's prehensile leaves delicately around twigs and branches it scales to a high and sunny vantage and there displays it's small but abundant tricolour blooms, each yellow flower peeping out from the green ruff of it's long spurred red hat.

      A winter grower it retreats to the cool sanctuary of it's underground tuber once temperatures climb much above 30℃, usually in late spring or early summer, and there comfortably waits out heat and drought until coolness and moisture entice it forth once more the following year.

      Demanding only of excellent drainage and summer dryness, any loose soil, sand or gravel will do but not clay, preferably under a deciduous shrub. Otherwise a pot of well drained potting mix kept barely moist and out of the sun over summer will be quite to it's liking.

  • Verbena
Page
<123
of 3