I live in zone 5. We had one of the hardest winters ever. I have three Pineapple Sage plants that survived this horrible winter and are doing beautifully. Is this crazy? In the fall I just cut the plants back to the ground (I usually pull them up and discard). Would appreciate your comments. Thanx
Pineapple Sage
When you say "hardest winter", was it really, really cold, or was it just snowy? I have family in your area and I know you had more snow than usual this winter but I don't remember them talking about it being abnormally cold. Snow actually insulates plants and gives them a better chance of surviving the winter, so when you have a snowy winter plants can actually do better. I'm still surprised though that something that's only supposed to be hardy to zone 8 could survive in zone 5 under any conditions.
Ecrane-you are correct. The snow acts as an insulator. I think it was on the ground most of the winter and I guess it did protect the plants. It was also unbelievably cold, but I guess, thanks to the snow, the pineapple sage was protected. Ain't nature grand!!!
Keep in mind if you DON'T have the snow but do have the cold in future winters, your results may be different !
That is true, but she can go out and run her mister and make snow around her salvias. lol
I planted a pineapple sage in late spring. The plant grew fine but didn't begin to flower till just a couple weeks ago. It's now huge & covered with beautiful red blooms - & not a hummingbird left around to enjoy them! Grrrr. 'Course we did have a hotter than Hades summer AND a drought. Oh well, like our hapless Orioles baseball team always says - "Wait till next season."
My pineapple sage is beautiful right now. We had a very cold winter last year and a sort of dry summer. But these got water from sprinklers.
I need to find some seeds from these salvias.
They are so easy from cuttings, seem to flower in no time at all
hellnzn11, good luck finding seeds of most Latin American sages. They have to be pollinated by the right hummingbird or other pollinator, for one thing. If they bloom when the hummers are gone, no seeds. Ditto if bumblebees (usually the shiny-butt carpenter bees) puncture the flower from the outside to get the nectar. even if a true pollinator gets to the flower later, the pollen grain may germinate, but the sperm tube will not form. The sperm won't reach and pollinate the seeds at the base of the flower.
Well that is some deep and informative info, but that also sucks for me.
Pineapple sage is so easy to find. They are usually with the herbs around here and are not expensive. Mine seem to flower in the fall too and I haven't had any survive my zone 7/8 winters. Guess they just hate me LOL. The texture of the leaves and color of the flowers is lovely though.
C
Hello folks,
Ok, I must add my 2 cents...
About snow being a good insulator...Hmmmmm, I question that theory...Why?
Because last year we had a thick blanket of snow on the ground from early December til the end of March...almost April. Since we are in zone 5 (for most maps and 5B on a single zone map), I "expected" to be lucky to see a few zone 6, maybe zone 7 Salvias survive...nope, not one!
Now for the flip side...
This winter we had no snow here til about the 2nd week of January (and only about 8-10" total between 2 storms)...and no precip at all in December. There is no snow on the ground now...it has all melted. Guess what I saw in our garden which survived the winter...our 2 'Rose' Mesa hybrid Salvia plants...supposed to be only hardy for zone 9-11!!!!
I'm thrilled...and yet perplexed. that threw out all the old wives tales about the snow being a "wonder" blanket so to speak...LOL
Whatdoyouallthink???
This message was edited Feb 18, 2011 2:12 PM
I think it has to do with the melting swamp factor that messes you up with the snow. The snow melting makes too many wet feet for most plants.
subnivean environments are pretty interesting and complex.
http://audubonmagazine.org/truenature/truenature1011.html
Newton,
A great article! Thanks for posting. I put it on my fav's list so I can refer back to it.
It certainly answers so many questions :)
Interesting. It reminds me of all the activity going on under my layers of leaf mulch.