Royal Sunset is a blending of gold, orange and red, much like a tropical sunset on a South Pacific island and does not have the black spots. I have Royal Sunset also. My Rosella's Dream has about half as many black spots as your picture shows, so maybe yours IS something else (but pictures I see posted on other forums that I belong to) do show the black spots on Rosella's Dream. Perhaps height might be a clue. Both my Rosella's Dream and Royal Sunset get abot 30 inches high. Does yours get that tall? If not, than it is neither Rosella's Dream nor Royal Sunset.

I have decided that my Salvia karwinskii must be a hybrid, but with what?? If anyone has any ideas, let me know. The leaves (and odd scent) are just like that of UCB S. karwinskii, but they are sort of a lime green, rather than grayish. The flowers are a bright, true pink. The calyces are bright, lime green. It doesn't seem to get taller than ~ 4 feet, and is not setting seed, despite it being the absolute favorite of the hummingbirds lately. This is all quite different from the S. karwinskiis at UCB. They have 2 populations there, red w/ green calyx and salmon/red with red calyx (gray leaves) which gets extremely tall. What is odd is that the S. karwinskii at Strybing looks more like mine (pink), albeit MUCH taller. I've only had these for one season, so they may get taller in future. Anyway, the not setting seed issue is curious, as I know that these plants are prolific seeders. I have a S. karwinskii X pulchella (probably really univerticillata) which also does not set seed, but presumably because my hummers get nectar from the base (the flowers are inflated, but the opening is VERY small). They are not "robbing" the nectar from the pink karwinskii, so seed should set. I might need to give it more time... they are still blooming. Rich, I recall you had asked about whether other salvias are setting seed in my garden. Just about everything has... even the S. collinsii! Those seeds are tiny, as are the seeds from S. iodantha. I've got a few seeds from my S. univerticillata (still labeled pulchella... from UCB)., and even from what I believe is the true S. pulchella (Strybing). I've been collecting seed from S. corrugata, though it's not always easy! I have not found seed on S. squalens.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It's sooooooo pretty! It's very hard to believe that two different traders sent me loosestrife, unless one had extra from another trade, who happened to be one of my traders! Well, I don't want to get rid of it, so I'll just have to keep it deadheaded and keep an eye on it. I really love it's tendency to remain upright...

Hi all, Sorry for the late response. I haven't logged in for quite a while. Interesting views. Mangodog, quite fascinated with the idea that it also happens to papayas, suggesting that this could be a phenomenon that happens to all fruits. Jalilu, so that explains the pico's relatively more pointed shape with reference to the carabao. Hence, the descriptive pico name. The Philippine language has many references to the spanish language. Or maybe, you're right. It could be the protrusion that happens once in a while that led to it being called the mango with the beak..hence pico :-) Thanks for your insights. Zig