help with salvias

I was having trouble each year with my salvias flopping over after mid July, blocking my pathways as well as having blooms down on the ground. This year I asked my DH to construct me a permanent support just for my salvias and morning glory bush bed. He made one out of rebar which I am going to paint. It is high enough off the ground that I can still weed the beds. Although it might not be the "prettiest" solution for the problem, it was all I could come up with, and probably one of the cheapest.

If mine get floppy I just cut 1/3 off the top and they rebloom!

K

ok, see I didn't know that . I am a "daylily person" , not a 'salvia person'. Some of my salvias get tall before they ever bloom though.

For instance, I have S.karwinski x involucrata - now i don't know a thing about it. A friend gave it to me 3 years ago. It gets huge, but has NEVER bloomed for me. I don't know what I need to do to get it to bloom . Any ideas? It is on the same row with all my other salvias and they do fine.

salvias THRIVE with regular cutback. Once each flush of blooms is done, cut back everything to 3-4" above the rosette. I think the bloom actually gets stringer each time you cut it back.

What do you mean by rosette, greenjay?

hey, pdkrones, you are such a brave soul ! I didn't know either but I dmailed her cause I was afraid "everyone" knew that and I didn't want to look compeletly stupid! Greenjay was kind enough to reply immediately!

( I hope my DH doesn't find out that he didn't have to build that support after all. That all it took was a pair of shears! LOL.)

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 4:33 PM

Obviously, keep the DH away from this thread, and tell him one day that in a dream you were told that the salvias needed cutting, maybe after they are looking leggy hanging over the support, ask what he thinks about the idea.

So what did greenjay say? Yo, greenjay!

this is a salvia rosette, 4/01/2006, just as it is emerging :

If you cut the salvia back to this basal rosette after it gets shaggy, it will grow back better than before

Got it! Not some place on the stem, but ner the ground. I will look closely.

Peter

I am a salvia person:)

Some salvias have a basal rosette, A lot off salvias dont they are like a small bush and you cut back 2/3 of the plant back to a node.

annette -

Your post is so timely! I looked at my "black and blue" yesterday, and was about to post here, because it has no rosettes. But I have only been cutting about a third. I will be more bold now. I assume there is still time for a good flush of bloom, maybe two, before frost.

Peter

No Worries Pete,

It would have been impossible finding a basal on the black and blue. LoL.

I am not sure about time for more blooms, I am in Australia and where I live there is no frost.I just know you cut back salvias to get it bushier and so it doesnt look straggly.

Annette

I didn't notice you were writing frrom Australia! What fun. I cut them. we'll see. Almost 3 months to the first frost, should be time. A little fertilizer . . . .