Try the Salvia Forum.

You will need heat in any case. Are you using some kind of tray or baby flat, with about 1.5 inch of media, like vermiculite or perlite for the roots to go into, or are you using an ink-blotter type of surface and planning on lifting the seedlings when the tap root gets about 1 inch long and setting it in the growing medium? The latter technique is used in labs to measure the germination rate of seed batches and to start precious seed of hand-pollinated or rare seed. It is usually done on special seed germination test paper that maintains the required dampness with capillary action. Heating this kind of setup requires care, because there is no media to act as both a heat buffer and storage. It is easy to cook the seed since it will be close to the heat source. I hope I have not confused you. I am not familiar at all with these seed starter setups. Is there a brand and model name I can look up on the Internet?

My only experience sowing salvias is the California subgenus Audibertia group. So far I've done S. apiana, S. clevelandii, S. eremostachya and S. mellifera. For growing medium, I've used a commercial mix: EB Stone "seed starter mix," which is a nearly pure "peat lite"-type medium. I put the medium and seeds in a domed tray, bought from a hydroponics store. I have trouble finding what I need at typical garden centers. I grow the seeds outdoors on a mostly shaded side of the house, though it does get 1-2 hrs of sun in the morning. I sprinkle the seeds on top of the leveled, dampened medium, and then I sprinkle a slight dusting of peat moss on top. I've also used cold-stratification both years I've propagated seeds, but I'm becoming skeptical that it makes much difference for my species. For the 2007-8 season, I sowed my seeds in mid-autumn. This year I waited until mid-January. I'm always worried that a bad frost will get them, but I think I'll go back to fall sowing next time. I'd like my plants to be further along than they are with the later sowing. My sowing schedule is mainly to conform to the California climate, where most native plant growth is winter and spring, because that's when we get most of our rain, should it deign to come. So my sowing times are probably irrelevant to other areas. If you have access to a greenhouse or shadehouse, it should make some parts of this much easier and less vulnerable to environmental whims. Also, I've had raccoons and/or opossums raid my pots.

Thank you art. I guess under the oaks on the west side where the low fall sun gets under the oaks will be a good place, or under a red oak that looses its leaves for the Arizonica. It does look like a shade dweller. I have some cinder blocks to build a cold frame. My Gregii are sprouting everywhere with all these well timed rains. The S. Darcyi is thriving but not blooming. I think I had it to much in the shade so I moved them all out into the mean bright hot world this week. It has a long time to get itself situated before next summer.. I only watered it early in the spring and it did well, but no blooms. How is the S.hierosolymitana doing.? As I told you before I killed mine. Is it blooming? SEEDS?...she says ever so sweetly. Oh the S. lemoni (#2) is from a mountain population in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It has a darker more purple Carmine flower. THey were wild collected by Southwestern Native Seeds. This is a first time acquiring seed from them.