maranta prateada - I had to google it. just gorgeous! is it easy to grow? I think I like marantas...it's an aroid, right? saw tubers. aroids are super showy. I have African mask polly that I adore, but it does not qualify for this thread ... with dormansy and all the mites... I have many fave plants, but they don't grow easy usually. and what grows easy and dependable - still does not grow year round for me (it would if I were to live in florida for example..) with that said, the easiest dependable plants for me in z7b are ficuses of all sorts, sansevieria and 'golden pothos'. oh, and jades. all of them grow slowly and don't grow much in winter. BUT! they are the only plants that survived over the course of 20 years and grew quite BIG. that's smth to think about! what grows fast - needs to be constantly replanted and divided. lots of work! when you are keeping plants for decades, you are really not into monsteras... or scheffleras...unless you have a huge house, that is. I know bedtime is in the apt and so am i.

The mylar hood would probably rip to pieces. Maybe, I could water at night, and leave the hood off/with fan to let the plants air out. Then cover them in the morning. Thanks for the hint.

This one doesn't look like yours, but it is shown in my book to grow in your area. S. azurea is palatable and nutritious for all classes of livestock especially in spring according to Steyermark. Yours is closely related so I doubt it would hurt livestock. The only salvias shown in my book are lyrata, azurea, reflexa, and (sclarea escaped from cultivation near St. Louis). This is from my 1725 paged book Flora of Missouri. This one below looks very nice. Here is a link that might be useful: salvia azurea

I have just been growing this for a couple of years so am feeling my way here. My sister brought me some clumps of hers (she doesn't replant or pull, just when she needs it....not a good practice). I separated out the green grasslike plants and planted in a small bed. Harvested several bulbs and last fall planted the individual cloves from a couple of bulbs in short rows and mulched with straw between them to keep down weeds. This summer when the tops began dying, I harvest lots of huge bulbs. This is all I have left except for the ones I peeled and put in white vinegar in the fridge. I planted more in the flower bed by the cellar a few weeks ago and they are up several inches now. I think I will go out and plant a few more. I know I won't have enough. I use lots of garlic in cooking. I don't know (and she doesn't either) the variety. It is a hardneck type. Very easy to plant and grow. You just break apart the bulb into individual cloves, plant like onion sets about 3-4 inches apart and that's it.....except for mulching. My first year, I used wide boards between the rows which worked really well.