I have the perennial Silvia's and would like to know if they bloom all summer long?
I see Silvia's in peoples garden all summer and they are blooming all Summer.
Can anyone tell me what you have to do to keep them blooming all Summer? I have cut the flowers off and that ends the flowering. When I cut the flowers off they are dieing off.
I am asking for your help on this.
Perennials SALIVA'S Blooming All Summer
My perennial Salvias ( I am guessing that is what you mean) bloom until the first heavy frost - usually November or December here in South Georgia. I sometimes trim off the dead flowers, but not always. Sometimes I have to trim the really large Salvias back to about half their height. When I do that, it takes a few weeks for new blooms to form. You might try using a bloom-boosting fertilizer, but I don't fertilize mine. You might just wait a couple of weeks & see if new buds begin to form.
Are they in full sun - it might make a difference if they are getting too little sun, but I am guessing. Do you know which varieties you have?
Maybe someone with more knowledge will add their expertise! Good luck!
graceful_garden
I only have 4 salvias, all perennial ones. Mine bloom all summer with little care. It might depend on which salvias you have as Graceful_garden suggested. BTW I don't cut my blooms off, I just let them seed and collect them.
My perennial Salvias bloom all summer too, but it really helps if I cut off the spent blooms. They bloom again much faster that way. Maybe it's the zone we are in. I'm also in zone 5.
Natalie
Graceful_gardener, Can you share Bloom-boosting fertilizer's brand name?
Most of the fertilizer brands make a bloom-boosting fertilizer so you'd have lots of options. With salvias though you shouldn't need it--they don't need a lot of fertilizer to bloom well (in fact they may do better without it)
I get a thin rebloom if I deadhead after the first bloom.
I've never fertilized my Salvia, and most of it is in really lousy dirt, and it blooms and reblooms like crazy. I've also got some that is in much better soil, and it doesn't rebloom nearly as well, but the original bloom is very nice.
Natalie
This is about Salvia May Night, but I suppose it applies to Salvias in general. You can stagger your cutback so that there is always one of the plants or a part of one blooming. They look pretty ratty when they are done blooming, but if you wait a little while they will make seeds and then you can cut off the dried tops and stow them under the mama plant, which will rebloom. You will be pleasantly surprised by how many babies this effortless method produces!
caitlinsgarden, I'll have to give that a try! I'm really bad at getting anything to grow from seed, so I may try this with all my plants! Thanks for the great idea!
Natalie
Thanks caitlin I'll try it too.