Yeah, echinaceamaniac, your remark touches on another point I was going to make about this whole discussion. Like most salvias, S. leucantha 'Santa Barbara' roots like crazy from stem cuttings at any point during the growing season, and then they grow like weeds once they're planted-out in the spring or summer, whether from cuttings or a newly purchased plant. So, realistically, I think it makes a lot of sense to treat them and a lot of the borderline-hardy salvias like quasi-annuals. That's what I do with them: enjoy their foliage and flowers one year, take tons of cuttings of the ones I like, and save those aside. Then, if the parent plant comes back strong the next year, that's great, and you'll probably have lots of extras from the rooted cuttings to plant elsewhere or give or sell to other people. If the parent plant doesn't come back the next year, you can replace it with one of the cuttings. And if not even your cuttings overwinter successfully, you can just go out and spend a few dollars in May to buy a new small plant that will be big and full and floriferous by mid- to late summer. That approach works really well, I think, and it affords me the opportunity to enjoy all sorts of awesome salvias in the summer and fall, while guarding against losing them over winter, especially if the winter is unusually cold or wet, and yet not spending as much money on them as I would if I treated them strictly as annuals. Good luck!

I sure wouldn't bother either if I could find it for $2.50 a pot! Actually, I wouldn't bother if I could find it at all! I did see some very late in the year, but I've heard it could be iffy to plant it in the fall here. Plus, they wanted like $10 for it. I might have gambled for a lower price, but I thought that was a little expensive. I know it's like a dime a dozen where it's common, but it just doesn't seem to have taken off here. I am really glad to know that it roots so easily! I tried last year and lost it, but this year I'll go with the soil-less mix and tenting and see if my luck is better. :) Thanks you guys!

Well... I have two thoughts on that. >smileI do know that they'll take some shade, and as with most plants in the desert, they'll probably thank you for making it shade in the afternoon, sometime between 12-5pm. The ones I had in the ground got nothing after 1:00 or so. Before filling pots with soil, I take some of the sheets of styrofoam that you get in packing - about 1"thick, and place them around the wall of the pot where the sun is the strongest. I tend to think the soil gets pretty warm *any* way, but it does help some. I say try it, see where you get!

Two beauties!!!!