Sounds like Broad Mite damage or a boron deficiency. You did a great job of describing the problem. Art

lovefornature--- Its not allowed for someone to promote their bussiness so I will Rich Defresnes ' world of salvias" is one place to get them and I personally bought black and blues from "meadow view growers " and recieved those plants in very good shape . They only deliver in groups of five plants and I will leave a link for them although I dont think they sell untill early spring. I have also got them from a local plant farm. But they are not easily gotten in my area. Lowes , etc. you can forget them in my area, but in your area may be ok. Here is a link that might be useful: meadow view growers

Thank you for your replies. Richard - of the two pictures of S. regla, Huntington BG apperas to have the form I'm seeking - upright and open. I'm looking for one that grows 6 or more feet tall, like the one in the picture I shared. Ours grows on the north side of our house in amended clay and gets sun only in summer. And, the S. melissodora is beautiful, but I'm seeking a Salvia that blooms in warm colors (orange, red, yellow) to contrast with other nearby plants with blooms in the blue range. KermitC - I believe I have S. flocculosa which I purchased at a plant sale several years go and it was labeled 'Rio Bamba'. It's currently growing in a spot that gets only afternoon sun. It is 3-4 feet tall with open sprawling growth -- do you think it should grow much taller than that in full sun? Research of S. fulgens tells me it may not grow as tall as I'd like - 6' or more feet tall.

Straw. how neat that you have a sister in Caldwell. That's where I grew up and graduated from high school. And later lived before Boise. I'm not surprised she has fruit trees. Not many miles from Caldwell is prime orchard country (Sunny Slope near Marsing). For years now, this area has become a greater and greater wine grape growing center with lots of wineries all around--very good wine. The valley west of Boise in Canyon County where Caldwell is, is prime agricultural country with very valuable rich soil. It's too valuable for common row crops, so many seed crops and specialty crops are grown in this area. The seed hybridizing business got going in Caldwell in the 1930s (Crookham Company), with Crookham's hybridizing the seed for the sweet corn we all eat, vastly improved over earlier eating corn. The onion seed hybridizing is big, too, as well as flower seed. So farmers like my step dad switched from potatoes (now grown elsewhere in Idaho and Eastern Washington) to seed crops and mint, which became big in the 1970s. He had his own mint still and sold mint oil to big candy companies world wide. My step dad was a big farmer south of Nampa (next to Caldwell). He developed his Dry Lake Farms on the fertile bed of a prehistoric dry lake. His farms were models of state of the art irrigation. He also began one of the early seed companies south of Nampa. And so on.....I grew up around farms, though my dad was not a farmer. I had my horse and rode constantly as a child. Now I live in the hills outside Boise where the soil is not so great. So I do a lot of adding goodies to the soil. When we move in, the ground around our house had never been broken to grow a garden or roses--it was pure desert soil....Tell me more about your sister's gardening and trees in Caldwell. Do you ever get out to Idaho? I love reading about this stuff. Diane