Van Houtti has never been hardy for me, although I'm a half or a full zone colder. Guarantica will probably come back for you, locally Black & Blue and Argentina Skies usually overwinter. I've got a bunch of Mexicana Limelight out in the garden about to bloom - finally. I don't believe they are hardy, so I've taken cuttings. Salvia coccinea is not hardy. They are self seeding, but don't sprout until the ground is thoroughly warmed up. For that reason I start a batch in late winter indoors. Lastly, I'd love to know how you make out with Darcyi. That's one I want to try next year and I'm as uncertain as you are. Check out A World of Salvias, there may be some mention of its hardiness there.

I set cool weather annuals in the ground yesterday (which I started from seed in January): lobelia, Chinese forget-me-nots, Baby Blue Eyes and Calendulas. Hopefully these will get busy and bloom and be beautiful until early summer. Since we are having a week of cloudy rainy weather, but with temperatures above freezing at night, I moved all my summer annual and vegetable seedlings outside yesterday: all kinds of flowers, plus peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. They will harden off in this weather without needing to be brought in and out, and the seedlings will develop stronger stems out in the wind and cool. I will keep an eagle eye on the weather for the next few weeks and cover things if it's frosty, bring them inside if it freezes. It is definitely not too late to start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Mine were just started two weeks ago. Some folks are just doing it. These plants don't like cold ground. You want to wait until you are having night lows above 55 degrees consistently before you put them out. That's probably four to six weeks away for us here. My pansy beds are really getting going and are beautiful with hyacinths and daffodils blooming. I will be starting profusion zinnia seed this week to replace the pansies. Once temperatures are above eighty consistently the pansies are done and the soil will be warm enough for zinnias. By waiting this long, I can germinate the zinnias in the house and then grow them on outside. They grow faster and stronger that way.

Dang! 150 plants? I hope you sell them or something! I'd really like to have some tomatoes to take me up to first frost (mid November). When should I plant these seeds? June 1 is a good date for tomatoes with, say, a 90-day maturity date (approximate only), and I'd start them in open flats in the sun outside, or even direct-sown where you want them to grow -- it's warm enough that they'll germinate, and you won't have to harden them off. If you get them into the ground 6 weeks later, that would be about July 15, and you'd have production starting about October 15 for a few weeks. Shorter-season tomatoes would give you more weeks of fall production than the "90-dayers". You might prefer the indeterminates that continue to produce once they begin, but there are a few really good determinates that would work well, too, spending their energy to produce a crop all at once. If you planted several varieties of determinates with different maturation dates, you'd have a steady supply that way, too, as fall approaches. It's just preference, though, not a big deal!

im growing Meyer lemon and Armstrong Satsuma in ground here in bixby ok. 7a. My technique is similar and based off of the guy Dave mentioned above. 25 C9 lights come on at 38F. I added a small heater that I only use when outside is below 15. The lights can maintain about 15 degrees above outside on their own. So far we have had several nights below 10. Covering is 2 layers of white frost cloth when its below 38 but above 20. Below 20 I add 1 plastic tarp and one green frost cloth. Water bottles are there to just help buffer the temps and add a little heat. Meyer is in full bloom right now. I plan to graft Miho and Dekopon/Sumo to the armstrong. mike