As I write this, I am on Day 211 of hummingbirds feeding at The Garden Guy’s house, marking the longest date on the calendar that I have had them, until hopefully tomorrow and the day after. I don’t use feeders, just plants. This year has opened my eyes about their choices in plants.
2022 started off fast and blooming, and then March 13, we plummeted to 21 degrees, when most everything was in bloom. But things quickly rebounded, and my first ruby-throated hummingbirds showed up April 3.
They began days of feeding on Superbells calibrachoas, Perfecto Mundo Orange azaleas verbenas and petunias. The freeze slowed down the Rockin salvia bloom, but by mid-May, the birds were seen on Rockin Blue Suede Shoes, Rockin Deep Purple and Rockin Fuchsia salvias.
I am in my fourth growing year with these salvias in zone 8a Georgia. They all quickly top 4 feet, so this year I took more liberty at pruning back to keep them in an allotted space. I use almost all of them behind other bloomers like lantanas and gomphrena, and even behind containers on a rock wall.
While they are certainly beautiful, they aren’t the showiest plants in the garden by virtue of their spiky texture. From a habitat perspective, however, they rank among the most important plants anyone can plant in the garden. Since May 18 it has been bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Seeing hummingbirds now is also a little extra special in that we had a very early freeze on Oct. 20, when it reached 30-31 degrees. It took a toll on a lot of blooming plants, but the Rockin salvia didn’t drop a petal. In fact, on the two mornings in which the roof of the house had a layer of ice, the hummers were seen feeding as if it was another day in the tropics.
Looking back at the 2022 growing year, there were a lot of memorable moments with all Rockin salvias. Rockin Deep Purple was the first to bloom and bring in the May hummingbirds. This year the eastern tiger swallowtails were around in large numbers; they too wanted salvia nectar. A large yellow and black tiger-striped butterfly feeding on Rockin Blue Suede Shoes salvia is an unbeatable complementary color scheme.
In a way, this was the Year of the Rockin Fuchsia salvia. This is where I captured many of my best photographs. Without thinking I planted Queen Tut papyrus, where it became a most photogenic partner with the salvia, (who knew?). The arrival of the hummingbirds, acrobatically maneuvering to get nectar, created a "holy wow" moment for anyone looking through a telephoto lens.
Most of the Rockin salvias varieties look to be Salvia guaranitica hydrids with larger tubular flowers. The Rockin Playin’ the Blues salvia is different. It is a Salvia longispicata x S. farinacea cross with smaller flowers. This salvia, which won the Dallas Arboretum Best Pollinator Friendly Perennial, is always unbeatable.
As if knowing of the award, The Garden Guy noticed it seemed to be a favorite of the little guys, like the gray hairstreak, and the colorful red-banded hairstreak. These butterflies fly fast and erratically, and they can be hard to follow and a challenge to photograph because of their small size.
While The Garden Guy is still counting hummingbirds, I hope you will make plans to put all the Rockin salvias in your garden next year. I can tell you the pollinators, including your regional hummingbirds, will be glad you did.
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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)
(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)
