Salvia Mai Nacht

Not too shabby, either, this Salvia Mai Nacht! Salvia was such a favorite of mine last year (and I think the whole country) that I planted lots of it, in lots of varieties. Some are coming back this year, but certainly not all. This is the best so far: Mai Nacht. Or, if you prefer, "May Night". Disappointments so far are the Black & Blue, the Argentine, and the Mystic Spires. About half of the Black & Blue have not come back, there is no sign of the Argentine at all, and the Mystic Spires has got two small green leaf clusters coming out of the ground that one can only hope will make it into a full-size plant.

The Russian Sage is coming back nicely, but the Brazilian Sage, bought last year at the State Botanical Garden in Athens, is gone. It was a beautiful plant, but I did not know until I got the thing home and did some research that I learned that its hardiness only goes as far as Zone 9. My subsequent contact with the Garden resulted in a comment that "here in the Garden, some survive the Winter and some don't". Well, mine didn't and I am not happy that in Zone 7B such a plant was offered for sale (with a $6 or $7 price tag) without adequate information about its habitat.

Meanwhile, I just added 3 Salvia microphylla 'hot lips' to my landscape ($2 each, from the Gwinnett Tech plant sale of a few weeks ago) and they are doing great.

Lesson: it may be wiser to stick with $2 plants and leave the more expensive ones for others to buy . . . :-)