George, I overwintered mine in z5 in an unheated basement. Low temps around 38 or 40. Last winter, I potted them up and overwintered in an enclosed, but unheated porch. Low temps probably about 45 but more variable than the basement. In this house, the basement is too warm to keep them dormant. I pot them up in late autumn and leave them outside until they turn brown in the cold. Then I bring them in and hope they stay dormant. Water maybe once a month. They tend to want to resprout before the soil outside has dried out enough to work. This year, I'm going to try leaving two outside but will bring two in (just in case!) I love this plant!

I usually cut them back in my garden, so the plant spends energy making more flowers rather than trying to produce seed. Are there other people in your area that can get hummingbirds to stay? It seems to me they would have to answer their migratory call and move on. I know when I lived in CA I had hummers 9 months out of the year, but they always disappeared for three months. Now I know how spoiled I was to have them as long gas I did!

For plants...if you know where Grant Park, IL is, Sunrise Greenhouse, aka Woldhuis Farms, had many of the hummer plants talked about on this site. Place is huge & have almost everything you could ever want. They have a website, but you can't buy on it but can see what they sell. Found Black & Blue at both Green Glen Nursery in Joliet & Sid's Nursery in Bolingbrook, if you would be familiar with those towns. I bought "Pineapple Sage" & "Texas Hummingbird Sage" seeds from UnderwoodGardens.com & they were very easy to start in flats (both very vivid red). I start lots of plants in those 3-tier mini greenhouses on a table in my basement, right next to a South window & hang 2 under-cabinet lights per tier & have great success. Just have to watch the moisture level so seeds don't dampen off.

Vicki - I just found some at one of my local nurseries here this past Friday. They had just received the shipment of that and a number of other hummer salvias (eg., 'Argentine Skies') that day. I think that many of the summer bloomers are being held back by some nurseries until this 3rd week of May to make sure that they can avoid those late late frosts - particularly those places that don't have much greenhouse space. You might want to try doing the rounds again to see if any are now appearing at your favorite spots... I know that I've never seen any over here at Lowes, Wally World, or HD so I don't even bother looking at those places any more.