Salvia, Downy Sage, Mexican Sage, Rose Leaf Sage 'Nuevo Leon'

I first planted salvias in spring of 2016.

One that I got was some Nuevo Leons. I live in zone 8, we had a pretty roug...Read Moreh winter and only 4 of my 9 Nuevos survived.

However, the ones that didn't make it were small and planted in the fall. I believe that as with a lot of varieties of plants they are not as hardly when they are very small.

Nevertheless they do seem to be one of the hardier salvias that I planted. I planted a number of red microphyllas, some fairly good size, and most died with the others losing most of their above ground branches and pretty much having to pop back up out of the ground. Also an Indigo Spires, which was a big plant, completely died. But the nursery (Joy Creek) said they sometimes have to replace those after a rough winter so that one wasn't completely unexpected. Another that didn't make it was the Black and Blue.

Bottom line, I have come to realize that salvias appear to be a bit less cold hardy than you might think from the zones they are claimed to be able to handle. Also, there seems to be more variation in what zone different sources claim a particular salvia can handle. Dave's Garden seems to be fairly conservative in what it shows.

At any rate I believe that now that the Nuevos are bigger they will survive our winters reasonably well.

I like their appearance but they are not as flashy as some other new world salvias; for example some of the red greggii hybrids.
The Nuevos don't have as many flowers and they are smaller, and don't seem to be as popular with the hummingbirds as some of those red varieties. But I think it is a nice plant to have in your garden assuming it can handle your winters.

Since I have found some salvias can get winter damage even here in zone 8, I would guess that people in let's say zone 6 probably have to be careful to pick the most cold hardy varieties they can find. Now the old world salvias (e.g. Cardonna) seem to be extremely cold hardy, but I don't find them as attractive as the new world varieties and the hummingbirds don't seem to either.

Spanish to English translation: 'New Lion'