Mary

Thanks for posting , thats exciting to me for I asked my lowes when they expected to get those in and they said betwenn the 15-30th, but I will call before I go for its 15mi from me. Sounds like a great price.

Mary

IM afraid Im new at these salvias , how do you know you need to cut them back, are they too big or what. Im guessing they were just on sale because of easter wk.

Hi Steve,

When a plant that is normally bushy in good growth conditions but is very leggy with a lot of space between the placement of leaves on the stem, it needs to be cut back. These plants are about 2 1/2' to 3' tall with weak stems. They were on sale because of the freezing weather we had after they received them. They were trying to get them sold before they began to lose them as perennials that are in gallons can be damaged by bad weather. B&B salvia is not hardy here, so they were not taking chances on losing them. Your Lowe's may not have them in stock yet - this was early for ours to get their's in.

Mary

Thanks for letting me know, Mary. I will check out the Lowe's in my area. I've found some really good plants on their discount rack.

Karen

Mary

Thanks for the info on cutting back and the fact your lowes had them. I called the stores in my area and of course they do not have them yet, still too early cause our climate is different from yours so it will be later on before they have them here. Im just guessing though on the cutting back that you just cut all the stems back about halfway including the main stem, unless the stems arent green, frost bitten .

Lanky guaranticas don't do particularly well when the cold spring winds blow. The best thing to do is cut them down to size. Besides, you want as may stems as you can get close to the ground so you need to encourage side-shoots. I do the same thing on my other sage cuttings too. Plants on the porch struggle against each other and get leggy. Once they experience real weather their stems will break, so now is the time to pinch. And like Mary says,this is a great time to root more plants. Spring cutting always seem to root very quickly.

I read somewhere before that it pays off to cut them and then keep pinching them back to get more blooms. Ive not had these before so whats the process of rooting them.

Steve
many people root their cuttings in sand and perlite. I usually do mine in Miracle gro potting mix and cactus mix so that the soil doesn't stay too wet. I dip the stem up to a leaf node in rooting hormone. put it into the premoistened soil and cover with a clear plastic bag that has holes in it for ventilation. I mist the cutting during the day and keep it out of direct sunlight until roots form and I start to see active growth.

Penny