Salvia and echinacea questions...

Greetings!

I am new here and enjoying all of the posts so very much. I think I probably should have cut back my salvia 2 weeks ago, but if I do it today, do you think I will still get a nice autumn flush of bloom?

Also, some creature is eating the petals on my coneflowers down to nothing - I am assuming japanese beetles, but I never catch them in the act. Do you think I should deadhead pretty hard - like a mini cutting back - and see if they refresh themselves or would you just leave them alone and wait for the dreaded beetles to go away?

Thanks so very much - it is a pleasure to run my thoughts past such wonderful gardeners.

Cheshire, I'm not an expert but I would leave your coneflower alone unless any flowers are just ugly. I think Japanese beatles is probably correct. Why not do something to control them. There are organic and other options.
If your salvia is looking tired, cut it back. I think it has plenty of time for a new flush. Best book on what to cut back when & deadheading etc. is The Well Tended Perennial Garden. (If you read this forum a lot, you would think I have shares in her book.)

Welcome!
Dave (NOT DAVE)

Uh-oh, Dave, the only thing I am more addicted to than flowers is books. I am definitely in trouble, lol! Thank you - I think I am going to trot right out there and give that salvia the haircut it needs.

I suppose I really should just leave the coneflowers alone. We treat the lawn for grubs, which has helped a lot in the last couple of years, but they see all the flowers and fly in from miles around! In any event, I guess there is time for the beetles to go and the coneflowers to get a good second wind. It is such a bummer - I always think of them as tried-and-true-backbone-of-the-garden plants, that I can rely on for color every year but...not this year so far.

CC,
I don't have salvia or JB's, but if the coneflower flowers are bad and sad looking I would cut them off and try to get new ones.

I guess we agree. Bad & sad = ugly. I just realized I had Japanese John, Paul, George & Ringo invading your coneflowers Cheshire. Al, Have you seen that happen before?

I don't have any of those beetles here - yet. Earwigs and a few other beetles will make a few holes now and then, but not make them ugly.
Biily Preston has been lingering near them ;)

Dave47,

Your head was obviously in a classic place. Abbey Road is one of my top ten favorite albums of all time, so I WISH I had those Beatles in my coneflowers. Maybe if I listen really closely, I can hear these beetles humming "Here comes the sun, little darlin'..." Probably not, lol.

Hey. How come no one ever names a cultivar after the Beatles? Huh? The most fab group of all times and not a single (that I know of) flower or plant or tree or even stinkin' weed named after 'em. Joe Pye has a weed - Dolly Parton a rose, and so on. Would it be too much to ask for a John Lennon Oriental Lily? Anyone want to sign my petition to get the Fab Four their own plants?

I'm with you Yankee! The John Lennon peace lily. The Paul McCartney sunflower and a garden tool: the Peony Ringo. Someone help us out with George because I don't think the Eric Clapton stole my wife blleding heart will make it.

Dave- ROTFL

George is my favorite.

There is a rose called Penny Lane. I think the McCartney rose is named after Paul. But c'mon! The other guys really need some plants named after them! Especially George.... he was a gardener after all....