Gaga for Greggii

Heat and drought are commonplace in western gardens; so when a garden plant thrives and blooms repeatedly in these harsh conditions they become a mainstay in the landscape. Salvia gregii and its hybrids have become one of those proven plants. Salvias greggii, microphylla and x jamensis, a naturally occurring hybrid of the two species, are native to Arizona, Texas and Mexico. This promiscuous group of plants has lent their genetics to numerous garden hybrids and selections. With more than 60 varieties available commercially and Salvia greggii's standing as an excellent garden plant, Pacific Plug & Liner thought Salvia greggii to be a perfect fit for its annual summer perennial comparison trial.

The key question that arises when we do a comparison trial is how do the modern patented varieties that originate out of true breeding programs stack up against older garden varieties that have been in production for years and most likely are not patented. We had five commercial series that we compared in our trial. Heatwave bred in Australia, Mesa bred by Syngenta Flowers, Puebla from Ecke Ranch, Stampede from Greenfuse Botanicals and Navajo from Ball Flora Plant, and a brand new range of cultivars from Conard-Pyle's Star Plants line.

There was no lack of flower power in this trial with all the varieties blooming heavily for the entire month of the trial. One of the best attributes of greggii is its continuous flowering from spring until frost. Greggii is also very forgiving and respond well to being pinched back to re-flush and re-bloom. As one local grower put it, gregii is one of those great plants that hold a long time and just get better every time they are cut back.

Greggii does have some obvious production challenges that makes it frustrating to grow. The main challenge is brittle growth that snaps off on its way to the dock, leaving a bunch of flowering stems lying in the production field. Poor branching on some cultivars combined with brittle habits can leave a grower with 50 percent of the original plant if a few stems are lost in the selecting and shipping process. Most growers avoid or reduce this issue by pinching or shearing the plant multiple times, giving them a heavy plant with lots of breaks and lots of flowers. Pinching, though, is labor intensive and most growers cannot afford to pour that much labor into their crop. Fortunately some of the new breeding has addressed this problem and plants are very durable, not only tolerating selecting and shipping but also overly aggressive watering wands that can decapitate flower stems.
 

There were many standout series and individual varieties in the trial. Here are our favorites.

Heatwave – It's hard not to look biased when we talk about our enthusiasm for the Heatwave series, as Pacific Plug and Liner is actively growing and marketing this series. However, without hesitation, we feel this is the best commercial series available and it truly is a series. The Heatwaves are well matched in overall height branching and flower timing. The Heatwave, bred in Australia to perform in hot and dry climates, thrived in our conditions, finishing with a single pinch in a one-gallon pot. The Heatwave series is available in five distinct colors including a unique white form called 'Glimmer' with black stems that caught many trial attendees' eyes.

Mesa – Syngenta Flowers. Bred over the hill in Gilroy by Goldsmith originally, the Mesas have proven themselves as one of the best mainstream commercial series available. The Mesa series is nicely uniform and with little to no brittleness in the plant; Mesas work great in four-inch and one-gallon pots. The Mesa series was unique for having some nice purple colors in Mesa Azure and Mesa Purple. The Mesas also had one of the best true red varieties with Mesa Scarlet.

Puebla – Ecke Ranch. Although not a uniform series, the Pueblas from Ecke Ranch did have some standout individual colors. Puebla white was one of the few pure whites in the trial and proved to be the most compact and well branched of all the salvias on display.

Stampede – Greenfuse Botanicals. Unfortunately we were not able to get any more than one color of the Stampedes for our trial, but the one color we did receive, Stampede cherry, was definitely one of the best varieties on display. Stampede cherry showed a nicely compact habit, good branching and exceptionally large flowers. It's unfortunate that we could not evaluate the entire series because if all the colors were like cherry, it could have easily taken the top spot in our trial as the best series.

Outside of the commercial series there were many standout cultivars in their own right.

Ultra Violet from Plant Haven is a unique cultivar with small, purple flowers on grey-green foliage. This variety looks like it would be right at home in the xeric landscape. Well branched and upright with little breakage, Ultra Violet proved to be one of our favorites.

Icing Sugar – We introduced this selection a number of years ago for its unique pink bicolor flowers. Icing Sugar definitely stood out from the bench with its novel flower color and proved to have a good habit with upright growth and moderate branching. Icing Sugar is one variety that appreciates an extra pinch in the container to get it to the ideal look and shape.

Hot Lips – This unique cultivar with its white and red bicolor flowers has been in the marketplace for some time. It proved itself in our trial to still be a great variety with nothing else like it available. Hot lips is well branched and moderately sized, fitting well into one-gallon and two-gallon containers.
 

The Conard Pyle Star Plants collection of salvia proved to have some of the most novel flower colors. Although not a uniform series like the Pueblas, the Star plants' range also had many good selections for neat colors but all the varieties would benefit from an additional pinch or PGR to get their habits under control and improve lateral branching. The most talked about variety in this collection was 'Golden Girl,' a deep yellow selection, a color not yet seen in other salvias. 'Bright Eyes' was another one of our favorites with cherry red blooms and a distinct white eye.

The greggii group of salvias has definitely found its place in horticulture as a bread-and-butter plant that not only performs for the grower but also for the consumer with great garden performance. The developments in breeding have helped overcome many of its production challenges, most notably poor branching and brittle growth. Each plant has its unique attributes that will make it attractive to growers depending on their needs. Growers should look at the Heatwave and Mesa series if they are looking for a uniform, well-matched program with a good range of colors. Varieties like Ultra Violet and Icing Sugar are standout selections that should catch the consumer's eye in the garden center. Regardless of what varieties growers choose to put into their assortments, Salvia greggii are great perennials that are sure to satisfy gardeners looking for bright colors and bullet-proof garden performance.

Ryan Hall is new product development and marketing manager, Pacific Plug & Liner, (831) 722-5396; www.ppandl.net